Applicants may have to wait up to two years or even longer to unite with their partners, as processing times stretch for offshore partner visa applications amid coronavirus outbreak.
We have witnessing a drop in the number of partner visa grants since January, a clear indicator that processing times for visa subclass 309 (Partner Provisional visa) have increased.
Generally the average processing time for a 309 application is anywhere between 10 to 12 months from the time of lodgement but it has massively spiked recently, increasing to possibly 2 years.
One of the main suspected causes of the increase in timings is that applicants are struggling to get their police clearances and appointments for health examinations due to coronavirus restrictions in place in most countries. Also case processing officers are being impacted by the restrictions like most of us.
In an interview with ABC News, Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge on Monday acknowledged the “difficulty” some couples might be facing owing to the closure of borders.
“We are only taking people in obviously if they are Australian citizens or permanent residents, they can come and self-isolate and a select group of other people on a case by case basis.
“But there isn’t a general rule that people who are trying to get their partners in on as partner visas will automatically be able to just come into the country and that’s just an unfortunate by-product of the circumstances that we are in at the moment,” said Mr Tudge.
He added that processing times for other visa classes may also be impacted.
“Some of the processing additionally have slowed down overseas of these applications. Not (just) partner visa and there are other applications.
If you have any concerns regarding a visa you have recently lodged or were planning to lodge, please do get in contact with us and we may be able to help.
Source – SBS
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