Senator Ludwig: The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question: The following tables provide average processing times in days for the skilled, family and refugee/humanitarian programs. Offices which have only processed small numbers of applications (less than 10) are not shown, as the small volumes of cases are not representative for the purposes of calculating an average processing time. (1) (a) Migration program—overseas posts. Processing times for the migration program as a whole are not maintained and are not meaningful, due to the variations in requirements for the different components. Processing times for the migration program are covered by the answers to the subsequent parts of this question - parts (b) skilled, (c) family and (d) refugee/humanitarian. (b) Average processing time, in days, for Skilled applications by overseas post Office/Post 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 (to 31 Oct) Hong Kong 382 405 425 393 Pretoria 997 Taipei 152 181 224 From 2009/2010, Business Skills visa applications (in the Skill Stream) were only processed offshore in Taipei and Hong Kong. From February 2011, Hong Kong has been the only offshore post processing Business Skills visa applications (Skill Stream). (c) Average processing time, in days, for Family applications, by overseas post. Office/Post 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 (to 31 Oct) Amman 331 349 300 361 Ankara 209 250 245 194 Athens 143 128 385 ** Auckland 157 139 161 243 Bangkok 119 152 211 237 Beirut 207 240 259 293 Belgrade 200 147 138 159 Berlin 168 203 175 243 Brasilia 117 143 171 195 Cairo 215 316 245 251 Colombo 151 118 147 172 Dhaka 175 249 229 248 Dili 242 132 230 ** Dubai 296 542 446 426 Guangzhou 69 162 220 191 Hanoi 252 180 251 427 Ho Chi Minh City 231 243 297 344 Hong Kong 155 101 145 164 Islamabad 362 712 ** Jakarta 139 109 135 145 Kuala Lumpur 215 173 183 171 London 75 88 154 152 Madrid 112 69 141 200 Manila 166 148 157 170 Moscow 194 197 213 188 Nairobi 282 305 275 292 New Delhi 103 110 148 201 Ottawa 112 100 159 199 Phnom Penh 249 236 219 277 Port Moresby 158 308 360 429 Pretoria 216 231 241 221 Santiago de Chile 151 128 157 163 Seoul 112 104 122 225 Shanghai 162 176 206 237 Singapore 154 162 161 168 Suva 257 185 205 215 Taipei 96 60 79 96 Tehran 281 420 337 262 Tel Aviv 85 99 132 166 Tokyo 92 86 143 221 Vienna 134 188 208 244 Washington 142 149 152 172 ** less than 10 applications finalised. (d) Average processing time, in days, for Humanitarian applications by overseas post. Office/Post 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 (to 31 Oct) Amman 455 377 288 412 Ankara 288 446 357 261 Athens 62 ** Bangkok 261 272 271 258 Beijing 387 320 299 328 Beirut 222 334 298 266 Belgrade ** ** 78 Berlin 229 209 239 308 Brasilia ** ** 91 Cairo 227 40 26 93 Colombo 135 177 211 264 Dhaka 202 206 ** 19 Dubai 290 320 280 313 Guangzhou 147 128 Hong Kong ** ** 785 ** Islamabad 519 ** ** Jakarta 363 346 222 230 Kuala Lumpur 242 322 290 299 London 357 ** ** Victoria OHPC 77 173 119 76 Manila ** ** 198 Moscow ** ** 162 ** Nairobi 226 300 147 438 New Delhi 267 281 202 264 Pretoria 345 305 409 ** Santiago De Chile 183 81 ** Shanghai 218 241 Suva ** 95 ** NSW OHPC 129 253 442 397 Tehran 399 527 422 889 Washington 212 114 148 ** Notes: ** less than 10 applications finalised. Victoria Offshore Humanitarian Processing Centre (OHPC) processes applications from people living in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. NSW Offshore Humanitarian Processing Centre (OHPC) processes applications from people living in Africa. (2) (a) Migration program—onshore. Processing times for the migration program as a whole are not maintained and are not meaningful, due to the variations in requirements for the different components. Processing times for the migration program are covered by the answers to the subsequent parts of this question - parts (b) skilled, (c) family and (d) refugee/humanitarian. (b) Average processing time, in days, for Skilled applications by onshore processing location Office/Post Client Location 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 (to 31 Oct) ACT Regional Office Offshore 149 298 145 ** ACT Regional Office Onshore 122 226 200 ** Adelaide Offshore 453 525 579 492 Adelaide Onshore 311 226 277 291 Brisbane Offshore 154 375 238 ** Brisbane Onshore 194 165 293 287 Darwin Offshore 142 ** Darwin Onshore 187 317 150 Hobart Offshore 82 ** ** Hobart Onshore 163 462 Melbourne Offshore 169 76 135 119 Melbourne Onshore 99 64 123 120 National Office Offshore 51 93 Parramatta Offshore 88 111 184 152 Parramatta Onshore 64 103 153 144 Perth Offshore 184 211 322 284 Perth Onshore 133 110 150 149 Sydney City Onshore 325 614 ** ** Notes: ** less than 10 applications finalised. Onshore processing includes applications lodged onshore and offshore. (c) Average processing time, in days, for Family applications, by onshore processing location. Office/Post Client Location 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 (to 31 Oct) ACT Regional Office Onshore 140 136 323 # Adelaide Onshore 196 125 187 Brisbane Onshore 265 153 211 261 Cairns Onshore ** 12 13 ** Darwin Onshore 234 156 151 ** Hobart Onshore 170 121 185 ** Melbourne Onshore 253 171 229 297 National Office Onshore 21 ** ** ** Perth Offshore 1,227 1,260 937 981 Perth Onshore 708 825 716 655 Sydney City Onshore 245 227 280 316 Notes: ** less than 10 applications finalised. # only a small number of Ministerial intervention cases processed. Onshore processing includes applications lodged onshore and offshore. (d) Average processing time, in days, for onshore Refugee applications. Onshore refugee applications are applications for Protection Visas. Figures are shown separately for Irregular Maritime Arrivals (IMAs) as processing times for IMAs are calculated differently. They are calculated from the time of arrival, rather than from the time of visa application. 2008/2009 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 (to 31 Oct) Non-IMA protection visa processing 93 107 139 155 IMA 103 116 299 341 (3) Labour Agreements for semi-skilled occupations. In the 2010-11 program year: the department received 64 requests for labour agreements for semi-skilled occupations, 24 of which have been approved, with a median negotiation period of six months. 231 semi-skilled workers were granted a visa under a labour agreement. In the 2011-12 program year, to 31 October 2011: the department received 18 requests for labour agreements for semi-skilled occupations, two of which have been approved with a median negotiation period of two months. 295 semi-skilled workers were granted a visa under a labour agreement.