Overseas teachers have been deprioritised under a July visa directive. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Overseas skilled visa applicants not working in defence or law enforcement have seen their wait times blow out as a result of shift in visa priorities by the government.
Business leaders have said the changes have forced offshore nurses and teachers to the "emergency stopping lane".
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke faces pressure to reduce migration and is set to announce a more comprehensive overhaul of the system.
Employers wanting to bring nurses, teachers and other skilled workers to Australia are facing waits of up to 12 months, under a far-reaching directive issued by the Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to reduce overseas arrivals.
The directive, issued in July, determines the order in which the department processes skilled and employer-sponsored visas, prioritising applications made by migrant workers already in Australia over offshore applicants.
Workers in defence and law enforcement are now at front of the queue for visa processing, or in the first of the five tiers, followed by workers in construction, healthcare and teaching who apply from Australia.
But any migrant applying for a skilled visa from overseas — who is not in defence or law enforcement — has been bumped to the back of the queue, in effect pausing applications, as the government seeks to put its foot on the brake to stop people coming to the country.
Before the new rules were introduced, Home Affairs was working through a 12-month backlog of applications for onshore permanent and temporary skilled visas, according to sources in the sector who note processing times differ depending on the exact visa type.
Jamie Lingham, CEO of Absolute Immigration Group, criticised the directive as a "blunt tool"."The impact is huge and I don't think everyone has grasped the reality of what's happening," Mr Lingham said."Why aren't there priority areas for offshore applications too? It means your marketing manager could get in before your nurse."
Business groups have slammed the delays "being built into the system" which have seen decisions on visas blow out, in some cases, from "a few weeks to close to a year", according to Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox.
The Home Affairs minister has quietly de-prioritised overseas skilled workers to reduce net overseas migration in a move the Coalition says is managing "migration by stealth".
"The longer the pause goes on the more we risk robbing Peter to pay Paul — appearing to soothe public concern about migration at the cost of our long-term development and maintaining living standards," Mr Willox said.
"We have unfortunately gone from a processing fast lane implemented by the government after COVID to the emergency stopping lane."
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Andrew McKellar has also expressed alarm at the change, which comes on top of a separate directive which effectively paused the processing of Working Holiday Maker, or backpacker, visas in July.
