Students, tourists and business travellers stuck offshore are frustrated at visa waiting times and unexpected ancillary costs.
The unprecedented blowout in visa processing times is a “dog’s breakfast” that is holding back economic recovery and costing visitors thousands of dollars in aborted travel arrangements, leaders in the education sector say.
in areas of skills shortages, reduce visa processing times and prioritise training and migration,” the meeting communique said. Students are also being forced to rebook flights at substantial personal cost. Among them is Vuma Kumar from Selangor in Malaysia. Ms Kumar applied for a student visa on March 16 and only had it approved 12 weeks later on June 1.
Lara Rowena, a Malaysia citizen who graduated from Sydney University in 2016, had to wait six weeks for her tourist visa to be approved.
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