BL Premium reports that the Department of Home Affairs has granted relief to applicants of long-term visas or waivers who are awaiting outcomes of their applications by extending the blanket concession to 31 December.

The measure is an attempt by the department to address the effect of the backlog in processing waiver and visa applications on foreign nationals. The backlog, which runs into the tens of thousands and extends back to 2016, is due to a lack of personnel in the department and the long processes involved in processing an application. This extension is further to an extension to 23 March that was issued in September. The decision means that long-term visa or waiver applicants are permitted to legally remain in the country until 31 December, pending the finalisation of their applications. The decision relates to applicants whose waiver application outcomes are still pending. These are long-term visa holders (work, business, study, relative and accompany spouse) who have applied for a waiver. The extension will allow the department time to process the applications and for applications to collect their outcomes and submit requests for appropriate visa renewals. All visitors on short-term visas whose validity was issued for less than 90 days are excluded from the concession, and are required to depart before or on the date of expiry of the validity period of their visas. Organised business has repeatedly raised concern about the delays in processing visas, which it says harms investment and economic growth.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)

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