Migrant advocates have voiced outrage and disbelief as it emerged wait times for some Australian family reunion visas are now up to 56 years.
At Senate Estimates last week, a representative from Immigration and Visa Services confirmed the average wait times for various classes the visas.
First assistant secretary Peta Dunn told the hearing 75 per cent of partner applications take between 14 and 21 months to be processed and 75 per cent of child applications are processed in 10 and 12 months.
Contributory parents, or those who can pay a $47,455 fee, need to wait on average 45 months.
But the average wait time for non-contributory parents is more than 30 years and "other family" is up to 56 years.
There are currently 49,983 non-contributory parent applications and 8,111 "other family" applications on hand.
