Regional visa delays slowing skilled worker arrivals

Australia’s sluggish visa processing is exacerbating labour shortages in the regions, frustrating business owners eager to take on new staff and prompting calls for action from the federal government.

The median wait time for a 491 visa – authorisation for skilled work in regional settings – is up to six months, as a quarter of applications take at least nine months to process. The slowest 10 per cent of applications takes almost two years to be completed, according to Department of Home Affairs data.