Indian national Mandeep Hira badly needed his mother to be in Australia to care for his wife at the time of birth of their child.
Though he applied for his mother’s visa over a month before the childbirth- April 25, the wait for her visa hasn’t ended even today, weeks after his wife gave birth to their child.
“It has been such a frustrating wait, every day waking up and checking the updates for visa status,” he says.
“The worst part is they ask us not to even contact them until 28 days from application.”
"Even after 28 days, they respond with same words "the file is being processed, " and no details are provded. I had never thought it would be such a joke of system!"
"My family and I have visited more than 10 countries including Europe. We've never faced such an unpleasant immigration system anywhere else. Anyhow we still expect them to respond."
SBS Punjabi has received emails and messages from hundreds of people in Australia who claim to be affected due to delay in issuing visas to their family members in India, some even alleging the slow visa processing was aimed at pushing them to a more expensive premium visa service.
But, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection has vehemently refuted the allegations that the processing times are intended to raise additional revenue by encouraging the use of priority consideration service.
The DIBP says the delay in processing visa application is due to a “significant” increase of 32% in the number of visa applications.
“Although the actual processing time for Visitor visas in India currently exceeds the global processing time, the Department is working to finalise all applications with a view to returning within the global processing time as quickly as possible,” a DIBP spokesperson told SBS Punjabi.
In the first three months of this year, the Australian high commission in New Delhi received over 62,226 visa applications out which the department has processed 50,329 applications.
“While the Department is finalising more applications in New Delhi than last year in response to the significant growth in lodgements, there is still a gap between applications received and finalised, which has led to the current increased processing times.”
The spokesperson said more resources and staff are being directed to ensure the processing in India returns to within the published global processing times as quickly as possible.
Denying that the delay in visa processing was in any way linked to a more expensive Priority Consideration Service available for a charge of $1,000, the department revealed that since its introduction in December last year 140 visas have been granted to Indian applicants under this stream.
But there is no doubt that delays in processing are causing many Australian Indian families great hardship. Gaurav Chandiram is one of hundreds of people who contacted SBS Punjabi with their personal story.
"My mother who has travelled several times to Melbourne in the past had her visa usually processed within a matter of week. This time around she is still waiting to hear from the visa office. She had applied for the visa on March 22 and has not heard anything yet apart from the fact they have received her application," says Gaurav.
"She had to cancel her ticket to Melbourne which has cost her several thousands of Rupees. Furthermore we have a 1 year old girl and my wife is due to go back to work. With no spots available in local childcare we are in great financial difficulty as my wife might not be able to join her new role."
While hundreds of applicants are reeling from the effects of delay in visa processing in India, leading to anger and dismay, the department has “strongly” advised visa applicants not to finalise their travel arrangements until a visa has been issued.
The DIBP has also recommended that visa applications are lodged at least four to six weeks ahead of the proposed travel date.
It should be noted that SBS Punjabi also contacted the Australian High Commission in New Delhi and VFS, in relation to the complaints received. The AHC responded promptly with this message, "As the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) does not deal with Australian visa/immigration related matters, you are requested to direct your visa/ immigration related queries to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP); at their email address "
We are still awaiting a response from VFS Global Services.
