Not really sure what a certificate of validation is, looks like it's aimed more at short term commercial ops. As an instructor in Aus, I've only ever come across SPLs and people wanting to do overseas conversions. Since the increased security requirements came into force about a year ago, every pilot (including solo students), is required to have an ASIC (to use airports with RPT ops in non-marked areas) or AVID (everywhere else). This is what takes time to process because CASA have to send the details off to external organisations to do the security checks.