DIAC is about to outrageously increase the size of its piggy bank |
Now one can appreciate the cost of living does increase from year to year in Australia and it was interesting to note in todays Sydney Morning Herald that Australia is one of the most expensive places on the planet (read here) however an increase of this magnitude to be able to lodge a 485 application is beyond a joke.
Clearly this increase is really about the government mentality of milking the international student cash cow for all its worth. And what will you get for this massive increase? Perhaps a world class service standard? Not likely. We are sure DIAC will in fact make no special improvement of their service standards. Keep in mind at one point it took 2 years for a 485 visa to be processed in the not so distant past. Now it takes about 8 months but let us see if you pay this extra fee whether it will be processed any quicker.
DIAC's Minister announcement on this issue stated it is a "fairer user pays" (read more). We couldn't find a more blatant example of government opportunism if we tried.
As for the spouse visa fee increase, without an application being decision ready current processing time in Sydney is about 13 months. As DIAC states on their web site;
The onshore Partner visa program is experiencing strong demand, and as a result, the current average processing time for subclass 820 applications is around 13 months from lodgement. This is an average processing time and the actual processing time for each application may vary significantly.
For this privilege they will soon demanding $4000. Simply amazing. To read the rest of that dribble regarding spouse processing (read here)