Senator Lundy: The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question: As at 30 June 2012, there were 14 245 primary applicants for a Class UF Provisional Partner1 visa awaiting an outcome on their application. Of those, 9 889 are females. Appendix A provides the breakdown by citizenship for the 14 245 Provisional Partner visa applicants currently awaiting finalisation of their applications. The average processing time of a Provisional Partner visa application for the 2011 – 12 program year was 204.7 days. As at 1 July 2012 the Visa Application Charge (VAC) for a combined Partner visa application is $2060. This covers both the subclass 309 and 100 applications. In February 2012, there were approximately 221 decision makers in the overseas environment making decisions on Partner category visa applications. 126 of these were Australian based officers, while the remainder 95 were locally engaged officers. The Department cannot report on the number of staff who only process Provisional Partner visa applications. This is because operational demands at posts vary constantly and officers may work on more than one visa caseload at any one time. Departmental records indicate that for the program year 2011 – 2012, the Department received 12 966 Partner visa applications involving an Australian citizen sponsor. Priority is not given to Australian citizens. In accordance with Ministerial Direction 43 (the Direction), applications are processed in the order in which they are received. The Direction allows for applications to be given priority processing if compelling or compassionate circumstances exist. However, there is no provision to prioritise an application on the basis that the sponsor is an Australian citizen. The Department's former internal review body, the Migration Internal Review Office (MIRO), was abolished in 1999, leaving the migration sector with a single tier of merits review. The abolition of the MIRO was the result of a desire to reduce review process times and increase resource efficiency. The general rule is that a decision of a primary decision-maker to refuse a visa application can be reviewed by the Migration Review Tribunal, Refugee Review Tribunal or Administrative Appeals Tribunal if the application is made in Australia or if the visa applicant has an Australian citizen or permanent resident sponsor. While the Department aims to finalise applications within the advertised service standards2, a number of factors may delay the processing of a Partner category visa application. These include: demand for visas exceeding the migration program planning levels set by the government for each program year; health and character checks, which involve other agencies and which the Department has no jurisdiction over; and incomplete applications which require multiple follow ups with the applicant. ———————— 1 By lodging an application for a Provisional (Subclass 309) (Class UF visa, applicants automatically also apply for the Permanent (Subclass 100) (Class BC) visa. 2 Current service standards, as advertised on the Department’s website are 5 months for Low risk countries and 12 months for high risk countries. ‘Low risk’ applies to nationals from countries which issue Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) eligible passports; high risk countries are those which are not ETA eligible. Appendix A Breakdown of Partner visa applications awaiting finalisation (by citizenship) Citizenship Female Male Total Afghanistan 357 223 580 Albania 15 8 23 Algeria 3 2 5 Argentina 7 7 14 Armenia 1 2 3 Austria 14 4 18 Azerbaijan 1 1 Bahrain 1 1 2 Bangladesh 243 25 268 Barbados 3 3 Belarus 11 11 Belgium 7 4 11 Bolivia 1 2 3 Bosnia-Herzegovina 18 15 33 Botswana 1 1 2 Brazil 27 22 49 Brunei Darussallam 2 2 Bulgaria 4 1 5 Burma (Myanmar) 29 11 40 Burundi 3 12 15 Cambodia, the Kingdom of 81 38 119 Cameroon 1 1 Canada 145 78 223 Chile 5 5 10 China, Peoples Republic of 1202 473 1675 Colombia 35 9 44 Congo 3 2 5 Costa Rica 1 1 Cote d'Ivoire 1 1 Croatia 10 10 20 Cuba 2 6 8 Cyprus 1 1 2 Czech Republic 9 4 13 Dem Republic Of Timor-Leste 3 3 Democratic Republic of Congo 8 8 16 Denmark 6 10 16 Djibouti 1 1 Dominican Republic 3 1 4 Ecuador 2 2 Egypt, Arab Republic of 67 47 114 El Salvador 11 6 17 Eritrea 24 5 29 Estonia 10 10 Ethiopia 94 69 163 Fed. States of Micronesia 1 1 Fiji 75 46 121 Finland 2 2 4 Fmr Yugo Rep of Macedonia 40 34 74 France 46 47 93 Gambia 1 1 Georgia 1 1 Germany, Federal Rep. Of 62 44 106 Ghana 23 28 51 Greece 40 68 108 Guatemala 2 2 Guinea 6 1 7 Guyana 1 1 Haiti 1 1 HKSAR of the PRC 68 28 96 Honduras 1 1 2 Hungary 15 9 24 India 2200 281 2481 Indonesia 233 56 289 Iran 78 38 116 Iraq 120 110 230 Irish Republic 62 77 139 Israel 13 21 34 Italy 27 43 70 Jamaica 3 3 6 Japan 101 14 115 Jordan 17 18 35 Kazakhstan 7 1 8 Kenya 35 18 53 Kiribati 1 1 Korea, Republic of 44 18 62 Kosovar 2 9 11 Kuwait 1 1 Lao Peoples Democratic Rep 8 8 Latvia 4 1 5 Lebanon 98 199 297 Liberia 10 22 32 Libya 1 1 Lithuania 7 7 Macau Spec Admin Rgn 1 2 3 Malawi 1 1 2 Malaysia 51 19 70 Mali 1 1 Malta 4 1 5 Mauritania 1 1 Mauritius 11 11 22 Mexico 20 8 28 Moldova 3 3 Mongolia 1 1 2 Montenegro 1 2 3 Morocco 23 9 32 Namibia 1 1 2 Nepal 125 33 158 Netherlands 15 24 39 New Caledonia 1 1 New Zealand 1 7 8 Nicaragua 1 1 2 Nigeria 22 30 52 Norway 11 3 14 Pakistan 366 182 548 Palestinian Authority 10 5 15 Panama 1 1 2 Papua New Guinea 34 12 46 Paraguay 2 2 Peru 19 7 26 Philippines 740 97 837 Poland 36 13 49 Portugal 10 21 31 Refugee 1 1 Romania 19 7 26 Russian Federation 44 5 49 Rwanda 1 4 5 Samoa 10 13 23 Saudi Arabia 1 1 Senegal 2 1 3 Serbia 34 29 63 Sierra Leone 14 16 30 Singapore 35 19 54 Slovakia 13 2 15 Slovenia 2 2 Solomon Islands 10 5 15 Somalia 48 60 108 South Africa, Republic of 31 28 59 South Sudan 27 2 29 Spain 23 16 39 Sri Lanka 259 77 336 Stateless 7 11 18 Sudan 91 44 135 Sweden 27 12 39 Switzerland 13 7 20 Syria 18 20 38 Taiwan 31 9 40 Tanzania 3 6 9 Thailand 430 25 455 Tonga 9 9 18 Trinidad and Tobago 1 1 Tunisia 3 7 10 Turkey 25 34 59 Uganda 6 3 9 Ukraine 18 10 28 UN Convention Refugee 2 4 6 United Arab Emirates 1 1 United Kingdom 454 663 1117 United States of America 150 187 337 Unknown 1 1 Uruguay 1 1 2 Uzbekistan 12 12 Vanuatu 1 2 3 Venezuela 5 1 6 Vietnam 545 136 681 Yemen 8 4 12 Zambia 9 8 17 Zimbabwe 15 15 30 Total 9889 4356 14245