The Department of Immigration is to speed up its processing time for applications, the Ministry of Home Affairs has announced.

A spokeswoman said Walton Brown, the minister, had met staff to set up “short-term and medium-term plans” to address its backlog. She added incomplete applications will be quickly returned and the department’s file room reorganised, while two vacant positions will be filled “as a matter of urgency”.

A backlog of applications was shared among staff in July, and a similar move is expected next month.

The spokeswoman said that as a medium-term plan, the department would be reorganised — including seasonal staff for both the personal services and corporate services sections, and more senior officers would be deployed.

The department has also taken on an IT firm to introduce electronic application forms and a document management system to eliminate bulky files.