Jaishankar raises visa backlog issue with Australian authorities

Sydney, October 12

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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that he took up with Australian authorities the issue of visa backlog, particularly related to students seeking to return to educational institutes in the country following the covid pandemic, and was assured that the problem would be resolved by the year-end.

Jaishankar, who is on a two-day visit to Australia, said this on Tuesday during an address to the Indian community here.

“And I want to tell you that it was something that I took up with different ministers when I was in Canberra. We have a particular problem that students are facing,” he said.

The minister said that he was assured that the situation had improved and about 77,000 Indian students are back in Australia.

“But you all know that the numbers should be and could be much higher and I was assured that by the end of the year the visa backlog, particularly in respect to students, would be cleared,” he said.

“It’s not just students because there’s a community, there are also family reasons for people to travel. I think there’s an appreciation today of the importance of resuming tourism in a big way,” he said.

He expressed hope that this is “one of the big disruptions of the covid era that we will be able to put behind us in the coming year”.