"Immigration SA would now allow employers to lodge applications under the current rules until July 1.

Then the federal changes, including higher English-language requirements, would be introduced.

Yet Mr Glazbrook had not yet received a reply about other concerns raised about long waits for applications to be approved by Immigration SA.

He said waiting times had blown out from about a week to up to six months.

The SA approval is the first step in the process, where Migration SA assessed whether an employer-sponsored visa application was legitimate. It then went to the federal Immigration Department for approval.

Mr Glazbrook said there had been numerous inquiries after the early cap date had been announced.

Employers had said they had not been given enough time to prepare for the change.

Mr Glazbrook, who is also Migration Solutions managing director, said a husband-and-wife client who ran an Indian restaurant in the city were concerned that their business would be put at risk by the changes.

The couple had planned to promote an international student, whom they had been training for the past two years, to restaurant manager while the female joint owner of the business had surgery.

However, they were concerned their employee would not meet higher English-language requirements expected from July 1, and had no time to lodge an application before the date.

"She was booked in for surgery and she was saying `Now I can't have this happen'," he said.

"They have spent a lot of their time developing and nurturing this staff member."

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