Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil announced today the next phase of implementation in the package of migration reforms first introduced in December 2023.
As of 1 July 2024, Visitor Visa holders now no longer be able to apply for Student Visas onshore – that is, from within Australia. “The visitor to student pathway has become increasingly prevalent, notes a Home Affairs media release, “with over 36,000 applications since 1 July 2023 to the end of May 2024.”
By preventing such applications, the government is moving to close a pathway that it sees as a subversion of Australia’s broader package of visa integrity measures.
In addition, and also coming into effect on 1 July, Temporary Graduate Visa holders will no longer be able to apply for Student Visas onshore. The move is meant to address an issue documented in an October 2023 report from the Grattan Institute. It found that a significant percentage of Temporary Graduate Visa holders return to further study, and often simply to extend their stay in Australia.
“Many international graduates are also stuck in visa limbo: less than one third of Temporary Graduate visa-holders now transition to permanent residency when their visa expires, down from two thirds in 2014,” says Grattan. “One-in-three graduates return to further study, mostly in cheaper vocational courses, to prolong their stay in Australia.”
By again closing that pathway, the government is moving to redirect students such that. “graduates should be finding skilled jobs and becoming permanent residents, or departing the country when they are more likely to become ‘permanently temporary’.”
The government is explicit in its intent that the changes announced today, “will continue to reduce net overseas migration.”
“Our goal is to build a smaller, better planned, more strategic migration system that works for Australia,” said Minister O’Neil. “Our Migration Strategy outlines a clear plan to close the loopholes in international education and this is the next step in delivering that plan.”
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