Immigration Minister Chris Evans has taken measures to combat the enormous backlog of 457 visa applications that have not been processed within the allocated period of three months after being received.

Evans recently told a Senate Estimates committee that 5,795 skilled migrant visas had not been processed within the required time – just under half of the 12,340 applications currently in the queue. The minister also stressed that his staff were currently working to the best of their abilities and would need to work overtime in order to process a greater number of applications.

In order to address the problem, as well as speed up the entry of valuable skilled workers who could help to curb Australia’s crippling worker crisis, the government will be providing the Department if immigration and Citizenship with increased resources that it believes will result in the current backlog being cleared by the end of June.

Furthermore, specialised visa processing centres will be set up in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth will be set up from July as the numbers of visas granted in 2007-8 increased on the back of the country’s mining and construction boom.

Additionally, firms with good track records and which regularly recruit workers from overseas will have their applications fast-tracked under an accreditation system.

As of April 1, 39,940 temporary skilled work visas had been granted in 2007-08. Health and IT workers were found to be among the most sought after professionals.

Totals for the year are expected to be 17% higher than the previous year.

Statistics by the Australian Immigration Department showed that 20% of 457 Work Visa sponsors brought in about 75% of employees to work in Australia.