Australia sees the need for speed

Three new Australian 'Centres of Excellence' have been established in Perth, Sydney, and Melbourne to speed up the processing of temporary 457 visa applications for employers seeking to employ overseas workers.

This is in response to the increasing demand in Australia for skilled workers in the labour sector.

The 457 visa allows Australian employers to employ skilled workers from abroad to fill occupations in Australia on a temporary basis for between three months and four years.

Statistics show that in June 2007, an average of 400 cases was processed within seven days whereas in June 2008, more than 1200 applicants were granted visas within a week,

Minister of Immigration, Chris Evans said that "The 457 program is critical to meeting the current labour market demands and the new Centres of Excellence will continue to improve the effectiveness of the processing of visas.”

Australian immigration authorities were dealing with a backlog of about 13,000 subclass 457 visa applications since March. That backlog has since been cleared.