The rules for student visa applications for Australia were tightened on 1 July 2024. The student visa cost more than doubled. Also, it has become almost impossible to apply for a student visa from Australia. This last measure is intended to limit visa hopping.
Criticising migration
The Australian government wants to increase their control on inward migration. Certain civil groups and political parties have been criticising the country’s migration policy for a while now. They claim that too many migrants are arriving in Australia, which increases the cost of living, especially in the area of housing.
Another point of discussion is that many migrants stay in the country on a temporary visa. According to the critics, there are many migrants who constantly move from one temporary visa to another, without having a chance to ever receive a permanent visa and to become Australian citizens. Therefore, these migrants cannot build a livelihood in Australia or contribute substantially to the Australian society.
Government promises to limit migration
The Australian government promised to cut net migration to the country by half. The government already introduced a number of measures to this end at the beginning of the year, which led to a decrease in the issuance of student visas. On 1 July 2024, they introduced new measures focusing on international students. These are supposed to protect the integrity of Australia’s higher education and to reduce the number of migrant arrivals.
Student visa cost more than doubled
On 1 July 2024, the cost for a student visa application was raised from AUD 710 to AUD 1,600. This is an unprecedented increase in visa costs, aiming to discourage people from applying for a student visa if they are not sincerely interested in a particular study program. The price increase is a government reaction towards reports of migrants who use the student visa to stay in Australia for longer periods of time, without actually being interested in studying in Australia. The price increase should make the student visa less attractive for migrants who are not genuinely interested in studying in Australia. Additionally, the higher visa costs should also contribute financially to the migration policy.
Visa hopping among students in Australia
Visa hopping is a practice whereby migrants move from one temporary visa to another type of temporary visa. A common situation for this to happen is when students graduate and move from a student visa to a graduate visa, e.g. to look for a job.
At the end of 2023, the Australian Grattan Institute released an influential study about the visa status of migrants who recently graduated in Australia. According to the study, many international students stay in Australia after graduating. In that case, they may use a graduate visa or another type of visa. The study found that one out of three holders of a graduate visa enrols for another study, thus applying for another temporary student visa. Only one out of three graduate visa holders moves on to a permanent visa for Australia, which used to be the case for two out of three graduates in 2014.
New restrictions for visa hopping
The Australian government has decided to curb visa hopping. According to the new regulations, holders of a visitor visa, such as the eVisitor visa Australia or a graduate visa, may no longer apply for a student visa while they are in Australia. This is supposed to prevent graduates and temporary visitors, who are not genuinely interested in studying, from applying for a student visa to extend their stay in Australia. Before this change, it used to be easier to apply for a student visa from Australia compared to an application from abroad.
Reactions to the policy change
The effects of the new measures are not yet clear. That is why most educational institutions are still hesitant about drawing any conclusions. Nevertheless, a few educational institutions have already expressed their concerns regarding the new measures. The main criticism is that the new measures also affect a lot of genuinely interested students, as many prospective students travel to Australia on a tourist visa first to confirm their choice, after which they proceed to apply for a student visa from Australia.
Since travellers are allowed to study for up to 3 months in Australia on an eVisitor visa, there are also many situations, wherein people start a short study programme in Australia and decide to pursue a longer study afterwards. Since the new rules were installed, it is no longer possible to apply for a student visa from Australia, meaning that prospective students face significantly higher costs in this situation.
Additionally, there is also criticism towards the objective to cut the number of migrants by half. According to the critics, this means that the government blames migrants for the housing shortages, even though the main cause of the shortages lies elsewhere. Also, critics of the changes claim that the government has not sufficiently considered the effects of the new measures. They fear that fewer migrants will cause the Australian economy to fall into a recession.