The effect of Covid-19 on subclass 476 visa grants.
The subclass 476 visa is the Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa, and allows recent engineering graduates to live, work or study in Australia for up to 18 months.
The last month where a major number of subclass 476 visas were granted was March 2020, where 143 visas were granted in the month, and 25 were refused. There were 3,508 applications in the pipeline at 31 March 2020.
From April 2020, when Covid-19 restrictions came into effect, the number of grants, and refusals, reduced to a comparative minimum.
In the remaining 9 months of 2020, between 41 and 44 subclass 476 visas were granted, with 163 being refused. There were 4,986 applications in the pipeline at 31 December 2020. An increase of 1,478 since 31 March 2020.
In the first 8 months of 2021, there were between 27 and 29 subclass 476 visas granted, with between 5 and 20 refusals. There were 6,411 applications in the pipeline at 31 August 2021. A further increase of 1,425 since 31 December 2020.
In the 20 months between April 2020, when Covid-19 restrictions came into effect, and 31 August 2021, there had been a bit less than 78 grants and a bit less than 188 refusals, with an increase of 2,903 more applications on hand.
In the previous 20 months, ending on 31 March 2020, there had been 4,404 grants, 1,572 refusals and an increase of 1,358 more applications on hand.
Source: Freedom of Information Request FA21/09/00384