Permanent Skilled Entry Backlog

Further to an entry made recently about the changes to the General Skills Migration (GSM) Program, announce on the
24th September 2009, there have been some repercussions, which have been felt by many.

Because of the advice from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) that the priority will be given to
those applying via the ENS or RSMS (see previous entry on our site), there has been unprecedented flow of
applications to both these sections of DIAC, creating overwhelming pressure on both these Departments.

Once an application has been allocated to a particular Case Officer, and that may be a couple of months, DIAC are
giving an assurance that they will give an answer within 2 days, with an outcome if the application is “decision
ready” or the Case Offcier will request further documentation ot information from the applicant or their Registered
Migration Agent.

Even though the published Service Standards for the ENS and RSMS Department for a decision on an application is
5 months for any application lodged with an ETA approved Passport holder or 7 months of an applicant lodged with a
non-ETA Passport holder, the ENS/RSMS Departments are striving to better this published time frame.

It, of course, goes without saying, that it depends on each individual application, as no case is ever the same and
therefore various senarios will arise which can speed up or slow down each application.

If you are requiring assistance with your visa application, please do not hesitate to complete our FREE VISA
ASSESSMENT, which can be found on our front page or send us an email and we will do our best to give the the
correct, Professional, discrete advice.