Number of people waiting for a visa has increased exponentially.

  In Australia, the number of people waiting for a visa decision has increased to a size equivalent to that of the Hobart population.   Key points:
  • The number of people holding a transitional visa in Australia has more than doubled in the last five years
  • Experts question what impact this new influx of workers has on the labor market
  • Migrants seem to take advantage of delays to stay longer in Australia
  According to the Ministry of the Interior, 229,000 people with intermediate visas were in Australia in March. At the last census, Hobart had 222,000 inhabitants. And a new report has identified the impact of this group on the job market for the first time.   The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) analyzed the census to determine that this group had an unemployment rate of about 20%.   It is high relative to the Australian average, but it still means that four in five people looking for work were working, which equates to tens of thousands of people in the labor market. A migrant gets a transition visa when a visa has expired, but he is still waiting for his new visa application to be finalized.   Visa processing times and the number of court cases related to migration have increased in recent years. These fast delays, which means that more people stay on the transition visas.   Melinda Cilento, Director General of CEDA, said that temporary migrants had improved Australia's overall prosperity, although the growth of transition visas required closer inspection.   "The community is looking at the question and wondering if the system is working and really working as we would like," she said.   "Many of these people on transition visas still have working rights - this is also a question the community will ask: Is this the result we are looking for?"   Senator Linda Reynolds, representing Interior Ministers, told the Senate on Tuesday that the growth in the number of transitional visas was due to the increase in the number of arrivals in general and she foresaw additional growth.   "As the numbers go up, of course you will get a growing number of people from all categories who are coming in and pretending to stay," she said.   "So, you would expect this number to increase simply because of the number of people coming here by air."   Behind the growth   A recent parliamentary committee has pointed to the growing trend for Malaysians arriving in Australia on a tourist visa and then seeking asylum. As of June 2014, only 7 percent of Malaysians temporarily living in Australia had a transit visa, according to figures from the Department of the Interior.   By March of this year, this share had risen to 34%.   The rise of bridging visas   Today, more Malaysians have a transition visa than any other visa, even the popular 500 class student visa. But this is not a problem with the Malaysian group: the number of transit visas has increased for most nationalities.   Peter McDonald, professor of demography at the University of Melbourne, said the relay visa cohort had "exploded" and was now "huge compared to any other story".   "For a long time, transition visa figures have been seen as an indicator of the government's effectiveness in processing applications, as the vast majority of people with transition visas apply for permanent residence," he said. he declares.   Immigration Minister David Coleman sought to put downward claims of protection down.   "These have dropped by 12% in the 2018-2019 program year, because of the government's desire to put an end to unfounded claims."   Professor McDonald said that this growth was due not only to the growing number of people arriving by plane, then seeking asylum - as the group of Malaysians identified - but also to the lengthening of the visa queue. partners.   "Normally, in the past, [spouses] would get their permanent residence immediately," said Professor McDonald.   "But the government has now introduced a long delay in this process, and about 80,000 spouses of Australian citizens are waiting for permanent residence."   Sen. Reynolds said Tuesday that the government is taking "appropriate steps" to deal with airline arrivals. She added that the number of applications for protective visas from Malaysia had decreased by 32% in the first five months of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. This decline had been 20% for all nationalities.   Impact on the labor market   A separate report from the University of Adelaide published in March indicated that the horticulture sector was dependent on Malaysian workers, but that they were also exposed to exploitation.   In a series of interviews, one speaker said that "Malaysians ... are the ones who are exploited".   "When you know there are Malaysians on a farm, very few of them could be legal," said the stakeholder.   A leasing contractor reportedly stated that Malaysians "simply used the visitor's visa to come to Australia and stayed for more than three months and worked in Australia, and that's what happens ... it's very hard workers who then become illegal immigrants ".   Malaysians can travel to Australia on an official tourist visa obtained online. Australian border authorities have refused weekly entry into 20 Malaysian airports at Australian airports to remedy what has been described as an "orchestrated scam".   The working holiday visa or "backpacker" visa, the most popular low-skilled visa in Australia, is not available to Malaysians.