Australia's visa backlog hits 50,000 students as officials warn the system 'simply doesn’t have resources'

 

Nearly 50,000 student visas are stuck in the review pipeline as Australia’s Administrative Review Tribunal grapples with an unprecedented surge in appeals, prompting a top official to warn that the system “simply doesn’t have the resources” to cope, according to new.com.au.

With student visa matters now accounting for more than a third of the tribunal’s caseload, including thousands that have remained unresolved for up to two years, the backlog has become one of the ART’s most acute pressures.

According to evidence presented at a Senate estimates hearing, the ART is struggling to process 46,590 student visa decisions as of June 30, 2025. Student visa appeals now account for 38 per cent of its total caseload, and more than 13,000 cases are between one and two years old.

Chief executive and Principal Registrar Michael Hawkins said the numbers reflected an “explosion” in recent years. When asked whether staff were triaging student visa matters, he offered a blunt assessment.

“Well, there’s not a lot of triaging going on because we simply don’t have the resources to attack the study visa cohort,” he said.

Hawkins added that newly recruited staff would be directed toward student and protection visa workloads.

Visa applications are processed by the Department of Home Affairs but can be escalated to the ART for review. Between July and October 2025, 44 per cent of the 3,886 finalisations resulted in a changed decision.

The hearing also revealed that the ART’s total caseload has climbed 10 per cent in just three months, now standing at 124,000 cases. Of these, migration jurisdiction matters account for 69,903 cases, up more than 10,000 since June 30, while protection jurisdiction matters represent 40,413 cases.

The ART aims to complete 71,045 cases by the end of the year.

On staffing, Hawkins said the tribunal had 281.2 full-time equivalent roles as of October 31. An additional 27 staff began work on October 27, with another 37 scheduled to join by June 2026. Despite this, the agency remains 97.9 full-time equivalent roles short of its budgeted staffing level of 430.

Attorney-General’s Department secretary Katherine Jones PSM told the hearing there had been a “huge amount of activity” around new appointments to the ART, with more work underway to support future recruitment.