The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has stopped processing some skilled visa classes, after announcing it would do so earlier this year.
The decision has dismayed many people who were waiting a claim for what they call "points visas," also known as "Priority 5".
The "cap and cease" announcement affected people overseas who had applied for permanent skilled migration to Australia under three visa subclasses: subclass 175 (Skilled Independent), subclass 176 (Skilled Sponsored) and subclass 475 (Skilled Regional Sponsored).
"The cap sets the maximum number of places that can be granted in the 2015–16 financial year for these visa subclasses. This total has already been reached."
SBS contacted the Department for comment but had not received a response at time of publication.
Legal action
Marion Le is a registered migrant agent and a member of the Migration Institute of Australia.
Ms Le said the MIA had taken legal action against the decision, claiming it was unconstitutional.
“I don't doubt that it will be challenged and from my understanding of it, it probably will be overturned,” she said.
“But in the meantime, we've got a whole lot of people who are in serious trouble because they have been waiting for such a long time to have a decision made on their legally and legitimately lodged applications for some general skilled-migrant visas.”
Applicants 'misled'
Sydney-based sponsor Daniela Rios said her brother had waited over six years.
"My brother, he applied in May of 2009 and he's been waiting for six and a half years and that means that [at] the time of his application, he was 33 years old and now he is almost 40, which means that he won't be able to get the points anymore."
Ms Rios claimed her brother was not aware that there would be a cap this year. She has blamed the Australian government for misleading applicants.
Ms Le said the process of informing applicants about the cap system had been complicated.
She said that the government provided applicants with very little notice between the announcement and the implementation of the cap.
"Michaela Cash – formerly the Assistant Minister for Immigration - registered the order for the ‘cap and cease’ in September but it wasn't actually posted on to the Department's site, we weren't told until just three days before she moved into her new portfolio. So no one was given any notice," Ms Le said.
'We are skilled workers'
Indian resident Gagan Singh was also affected by the new ruling. Mr Singh has told SBS Radio's Punjabi program he'd been waiting for a long time for a response from the Australian authorities.
He said he was disappointed with the decision. "I am married and my wife and son's life have been on hold too all this while. It has been five years and now I was expecting my visa will come through, but suddenly the government has done this. I'm very disappointed because the time I've lost will never come back."
Gagan Singh said he felt "Priority 5" applicants had been unfairly treated.
"We are skilled workers. My occupation was in demand when I filed my visa application, and we can contribute to the economy of Australia,” Mr Singh said.
“We are not refugees or people who are making an illegitimate entry into Australia, that's why they must consider our application.”
The federal government said it will refund people the cost of their applications but Marion Le argued that was insufficient considering the widespread negative impact of the issue.
"We've got a whole lot of people out there - 30,000-odd people - some of them offshore of course but we've got some very, very disgruntled people out there and the government that once again has made a very shortsighted decision and one that's going to impact not only on the people who've applied for the visas but also in many cases on their family members here."
