Post Covid Visitor Visa Processing Times.
Unfortunately the processing times quoted by Immigration may not give a clear figure of what to expect in the immediate months following the Australian borders opening to double vaccinated visitors.
The latest processing times of “under 37 days for 90%”, was the figure for Subclass 600 Tourist stream Visitor visas finalised in March 2022.
When the borders opened on 21 February, there could have been a massive number of applications waiting to be finalised, and we know that many staff members were off sick due to Covid. This would probably cause delays for visas that needed any checking.
No one, other than some in the Immigration department, knows how many are still in the pipeline at the moment.
We do know that there were 107,793 Tourist stream Visitor applications waiting at 31 December 2021. This was only an 18.6% rise from the 90,881 waiting at 31 December 2020.
Processing times for any of these that were finalised on or after 21 February 2022 would be calculated from 21 February 2022, and not the actual lodging date.
So; if any of the November and December applications were processed in March 2022, their times would be calculated from 21 February 2022, giving a processing time of under 40 days, even though some had actually waited up to 150 days. (4 months)
Immigration will eventually catch up, but until then, more patience than normal will probably be required.
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