Migration experts have recently revealed that if Australia is to achieve its objective of processing 97,000 visa applications over the forthcoming year, processing times will need to be rapidly accelerated.

In order to achieve the Department of Immigration’s objectives over the next 12 months, offshore applicants are encouraged to apply for all police clearance documents once their visa application has been submitted to the Skills Processing Centre. At present, the process is being significantly slowed down due to case officers having to request police certificates from applicants once their application reaches the top of the pile at the SPC.

With regard to medicals, applicants are advised to arrange an appointment with their panel doctor for a date by which they can realistically expect to have received a file reference from their case officer in Australia. As well as significantly speeding up the visa grant process, having medical documents ready to be submitted around the time of acknowledgment from DIAC will greatly reduce the chances of their being mislaid by the Department of Immigration’s Local Clearance Unit.