Former Immigration Department Deputy Secretary, Abul Rizvi, has reported in an article published in The Independent that Peter Dutton cut down on the number of partner visas available. This action has created a backlog of 80,000 applicants.
At end June 2018, the Government had allowed a backlog of over 80,000 “Partner visa” applications to build up. These are overseas-born people who are married to or intend to marry Australian citizens or permanent residents.
Rather than take steps to deal with the backlog, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton started to cut down on the number of partner places available, even though the law requires spouse visas be managed on a demand-driven basis.
By voting down amendments to s86 and s87 of the Migration Act (the capping powers), Parliament has twice (in 1989 and 1996-97) made it clear it expects visa applications for spouses of Australian citizens and permanent residents to be processed on a demand-driven basis.
However, the current Government has allowed a backlog of over 80,000 partner applications (that is, including fiancees) to develop. It has allocated only 39,799 places for partners in 2019-20 — the same as in 2017-18. This can only result in the backlog continuing to grow.
Read the full article here
If you have any questions or queries about partner visas in general, or are hoping to bring your spouse to Australia, we would love to hear from you. You can use the form on our contact page and we will get back in touch with you as soon as possible to arrange a consultation.
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