System Under Strain: Key Takeaways for Your Visa Strategy
Visa Executive team member, Christina Lien, attended the 2026 Immigration Law Conference, where Department of Home Affairs and Administrative Review Tribunal officials provided rare public candour on processing pressures, employer‑sponsored reforms, and the government’s migration agenda.
Key Conference Takeaways
-Processing delays and bridging visas
-Skills in Demand visa updates
-Employer Nomination Scheme developments
-Business and GSM program reform
-Ministerial address summary
Law Council of Australia – Immigration Law Conference
Brisbane, 18–20 March 2026
Christina Lien, recently attended the Law Council of Australia’s law conference and her keen insights are detailed below.
The 2026 Immigration Law Conference in Brisbane brought together the Department of Home Affairs, Administrative Review Tribunal representatives, and the Minister for Immigration to address the profession’s most pressing concerns. Across two sessions, a clear theme emerged: a migration system of growing complexity navigating record demand, technology constraints, and contested political terrain. This edition summarises the key disclosures and their practical implications for your clients.
PROCESSING DELAYS
Bridging Visas, ART Backlogs, and the System’s Biggest Pain Points
The session opened with direct questioning on processing delays and the department’s responses were notably candid. DHA acknowledged that processing times are driven by a combination of application quality issues, non- genuine applications, volume surges, and IT-related errors, rather than any single cause.
A particularly important disclosure concerned Bridging Visa A failures. When a BVA is not automatically granted after lodging a substantive visa application, the almost universal cause is a biometric data mismatch — a misspelled name or date-of-birth discrepancy that forces a manual record merge, which can take anywhere from two to thirty days.
Practitioners were explicitly advised: do not lodge a manual BVA application in these circumstances, as this creates further delay rather than resolving the issue. The same guidance was extended to Bridging Visa Bs — multiple BVB applications are unhelpful.
“Applicants are strongly encouraged to lodge applications early to avoid delays in becoming unlawful. Application quality, completeness, and responsiveness to departmental requests are the key variables within the practitioner’s control.”
Department of Home Affairs official, Conference Q&A
On the ART’s delays in acknowledging review applications which have downstream consequences including expired bridging visas and exposure to unlawfulness the department confirmed it is proactively contacting the Tribunal to confirm receipt of applications and request priority registration. Once the Tribunal updates its systems, bridging visa activation is expedited. Practitioners whose clients are in this position should maintain contemporaneous records and engage the department’s monitoring processes directly.
EMPLOYER-SPONSORED PROGRAMS
Skills in Demand Visa: Strong Growth, Slower Times, and What’s Being Done
The Skills in Demand (SID) visa which replaced the Temporary Skills Shortage visa on 7 December 2024 has seen extraordinary uptake. Department officials presented the following figures as at 28 February 2026:
| 183K Visa applications since SID commencement | 36.1% Increase vs. prior program year | 58% Applications incomplete on first touch | ~3 mo Core skills stream median processing time |
The department’s benchmark for specialist skills stream processing is a median of seven days; as at February 2026 it was running at approximately 14 days. Core skills where 76,000 of the 183,000 applications sit is currently processing at around three months, with labour agreement stream applications taking approximately four months.
A critical operational clarification was provided on active sponsorship and TRT stream ENS eligibility. The department confirmed that an active sponsorship is not required at the time of ENS visa lodgement. It is sufficient that the sponsorship was approved at the time the 482 visa was granted. This resolves a common area of confusion and has no impact on the exempt occupation pathway under subclause 186-19(2)(1)(2) for medical practitioners and senior corporate executives.
The 58% incomplete application rate cited by the department is significant. The department has shifted to issuing requests for information rather than refusing on first touch but this goodwill is contingent on practitioner engagement. Frequently missing documents include: evidence of skill level and relevant registrations; full employment and education history; CVs; military service records where applicable; and for nominations, entity org charts and employment contracts.
EMPLOYER NOMINATION SCHEME
ENS: Demand Is Outpacing Planning Levels
The ENS program faces a structural imbalance. As at 28 February 2026, approximately 79,000 applications are on hand against an annual planning level of 44,000. The department has updated the ENS landing page to display the current date at which cases are being allocated for each ministerial direction priority category, allowing practitioners to better manage client expectations.
Current indicative processing times are approximately 12 months for direct entry stream and 13 months for the temporary residence transition stream. Regional Australia and healthcare categories are the highest priorities, currently being allocated at approximately the May 2025 lodgement date.
A pointed question was raised about regional doctors experiencing severely extended processing times despite qualifying under the two highest ministerial direction priorities (regional Australia and healthcare). The department acknowledged the feedback and agreed to consider whether combined regional and healthcare status warrants additional prioritisation. No commitment was made, but the discussion was placed formally on notice.
Police certificates for permanent ENS applications: the department explicitly recommended that practitioners consider withholding police certificates at application time for lower-priority cohorts, given that processing times may extend well beyond the 12-month validity period. The ENS website now provides allocation date guidance that practitioners should use as a judgment tool. The department noted it will exercise discretion to extend police clearance validity to 18 months where delay is caused by the department, not the applicant.
SKILLS & BUSINESS VISA REFORM
Business Visas Will Not Return; GSM Points Test Reform Ongoing.
The Business Innovation and Investment Program, closed in July 2024, will not be replaced with any equivalent investor visa. Both departmental officials and the Minister were unambiguous on this point. The National Innovation Visa (NIV), introduced on 7 December 2024, is described as a small, exclusive program by invitation only for high-calibre talent in sectors of national priority it is not a broad replacement for the BIP.
On the General Skilled Migration points test, the department confirmed that over 204 submissions were received on the discussion paper released in April 2024, and that data analysis is ongoing. Reform is described as active but without a defined timeline. The CCSOL to OSCAR transition also has no confirmed timeline, with the department continuing to work through systems and policy requirements.
ASSISTANT MINISTER ADDRESS
The second session featured a substantive address from the Assistant Minister. He opened by acknowledging that migration professionals serve as critical intermediaries between clients and a system that is, by design, complex and expressed genuine regard for the work of the profession, while offering pointed criticism of practitioners who take fees for manifestly hopeless humanitarian applications, or who mislead clients about the influence of ministerial correspondence.
“For millions of globally connected Australians, a properly functioning visa system is critical infrastructure. It is as important to my constituents and your clients as the ATO, Medicare, the NBN, or the NDIS.” The Minister, Keynote Address
On temporary migration, the Minister was direct: when people come to Australia for a temporary purpose and complete that purpose, the default expectation in the absence of a pathway to permanency must be departure. “Visa hopping” is described as an inherited structural problem the government is actively addressing.
The humanitarian program was a central theme. The Minister disclosed that the Community Support Program has been suspended and is under redesign, that near 40,000 unlinked refugee applications are essentially never approved, and that onshore protection visa abuse remains a concern despite significant progress. Written submissions on program design reform are open until 31 March 2026.
On the Fast Track caseload, the Minister confirmed that the three categories of remaining complexity are identity (the largest), character, and a very small number of security cases. Legal representatives were advised to submit directly to the department not through MPs and to counsel clients on the critical importance of honesty in reconciling identity documents.
This newsletter article was prepared based on transcripts from the Law Council of Australia 2026 Immigration Law Conference (Brisbane, 18–20 March 2026). It is intended as a general summary for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Practitioners should verify all procedural guidance against the current departmental website and legislative instruments before relying on it in specific matters.
