Official statistics released by the department of immigration show that 4450 sc457 visa applications were refused in the last quarter of 2015 compared to 2130 refusals for the same period in the previous year.
These figures could get worse given that RMAs have been reporting that the department of immigration has taken a stricter stance in its assessment regime. In some cases, the DIBP has given applicants little or no chance to provide additional evidence of their claims after lodgement of the application.
Migration Alliance enquired with the DIBP upon seeing a report that an applicant who lodged their visa late on Friday was refused the Sponsorship application on midday Monday as the required evidence was not uploaded with the application.
Responding to Migration Alliance enquiries, a spokesperson for the Department of Immigration recently warned that sc457 applications including sponsorship, nomination and the visa application must be decision-ready or risk refusal.
RMAs however say that given the amount of information required and the fact that the online system is not setup to accept ‘decision-ready’ applicants, this stance is unfair.
“The online electronic system is such that an application could never be submitted ‘decision ready’. It is impossible. This is due to the way the lodgement system has been designed. Documents cannot be uploaded until such time as the application is submitted and paid for. There is no facility to submit an application with documents already attached. Therefore, there will always be a period of time from when the application is submitted and paid for and it is ready to be considered prior to when the ‘uploading’ of the documents has been completed” wrote RMA Jamie Lingham on this blogsite recently.
Currently, there are 85,900 sc457 primary visa holders in Australia - this is about 5% lower than the previous year.
Almost a quarter of sc457 visa holders are Indian nationals. Citizens from the United Kingdom, and India together make up over 40% of the 85,900 sc457 visa holders currently in Australia. Cooks, Café Managers, Marketing Specialists and Chefs are the occupations in greatest demand. The sc 457 workers are mainly located in NSW (42%) followed by Victoria (24.%) and Western Australia (14.9%).
For the full figures follow this link: http://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/457-quarterly-report-2015-12-31.pdf#search=statistics