AUSTRALIA: No More Priority Processing for Work Visas

September 11, 2018


Effective 5 September 2018, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has ceased accepting priority processing requests for the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa (subclass 482) and Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457).

457 visa applications are being prioritised and processing of these is expected to be finalised before the end of the current year.

TSS visa applications are now being processed according to the official order of priority:

  1. Applications lodged by accredited sponsors
  2. Applications lodged for positions that are located in regional Australia
  3. Applications lodged for positions under the Labour Agreement stream
  4. All other applications

The last category of application should be processed within DHA’s global timeframes advertised here.

Our Advice

Non-accredited employers of foreign nationals in Australia are advised to apply to become accredited, to access top priority processing.

Employers who are not accredited should allow for the current global processing standards and the recent cessation of the priority processing service.

For general advice and information on immigration and business travel to Australia, please contact us.