The Department of Home Affairs plans to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and machine learning to identify dubious visa applicants and automate the visa assessment process.
The Department, previously known as The Department of Immigration and Border Protection, has already begun engaging market providers to utilise AI technology as part of its overhaul of Australia’s visa system.
According to tender documents, the Department is looking to use AI and machine learning for “assessments of temporary visa applications from all geographic locations against visa criteria (other than health and national security assessments)”, as well as “longer-term, more complex visa products” at a later stage.
As stated in the tender documents, “The market consultation process shows that business process services could play a substantial role in any initial solution for assessments against visa criteria, with supportive technology improving productivity and accuracy over time.”
Currently visa processing is performed manually by departmental staff with limited supporting technology to make an assessment against the visa criteria.
“I expect the new visa system will make it easier for the Department to identify issues such as inaccurate or incomplete applications, so it’s very important to get professional advice to ensure you are putting in a strong and valid application,” said Sheila Woods, Registered Migration Agent.
The Department is currently undertaking a complete overhaul of Australia’s visa system, with a view to simplifying existing temporary and permanent visa programs to manage growing volumes of visa applications and travellers.
According to the tender documents, disruptive technologies such as AI could be used to assess visa applications as soon as December 2019.
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