In his latest update to Parliament about the backlog of visa applications, the Minister of Home Affairs, advised that there has been a significant reduction in the number of visa applications in the backlog. According to the Minister the number of visas in the backlog is now 41 803.

In his previous update in November last year the Minister advised that there were over 73 000 visas in backlog. Accordingly, it would appear that the Department of Home Affairs have processed approximately 30 000 visas from the backlog over the past 3 months. Considering that they made no progress at all over the previous 18 months I find this new information difficult to believe.

The Minister further stated that the only visa categories that still have a visa backlog are the following: Section 11 (6) visas (Spousal Visas with endorsements to work) and Relatives Visas. The delay in these visas is due to the fact that the Department experienced difficulties in authenticating the spousal relationships.

The Minister also stated that visa processing times are now at around 8 months. Unfortunately, this contrasts strongly with actual experience where certain visas have still not been processed after 2 years. I’m thus inclined to consider the latest update rather sceptically.