Australia Tightens Requirements for Student Visas; set to Halve Net Immigration by 2025

Australia has taken aggressive steps to curb the yearly intake from a peak of 510,000 international students by instituting more demanding examinations for overseas students and rejecting workers with lower skill levels. Within the next two years, the country plans to cut its net migration in half.

According to the most recent policy, foreign students would need to score higher on English proficiency exams, and their applications for second visas will be subject to more scrutiny, which could result in an extension of their stay.

Furthermore, it is anticipated that in fiscal years 2024–2025 and 2025–2026, net migration will decrease to approximately a quarter of a million, nearly reverting to pre–COVID levels.

According to local media, if the government’s ambitious new plan to bring in 250,000 migrants by June 2025 falls short of its goal, it is still considering taking potentially unpopular steps like capping the number of students enrolled or increasing the cost of obtaining a visa.

At present, Australia accommodates more than 650,000 overseas students, and an increasing proportion of these students opt to prolong their stay by enrolling in a second course; 150,000 of them possess a second student visa.

The $70,000 Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold, which is the pivotal earnings test, will be indexed such that full-time workers will find it difficult to enter unless they have a highly sought-after skill and a job that pays more than the benchmark.

In October of the previous year, the government projected that net migration would be 235,000 for the year ending in June 2023. However, in May of this year, this number was changed to 400,000. It was also certified by the same that 510,000 people were enrolled.

Before this, Australian officials said that, beginning of October 1, foreign students wishing to apply for an Australian student visa would need to provide proof of at least $24,505 in savings.

This modification represents a 17 percent rise above the current salary threshold. To combat fraudulent activities in student visa applications, the government has issued a warning against imposing more documentation and applying heightened scrutiny to high-risk cohorts.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that 131,640 foreign students arrived in the nation in July, an 85 percent increase or more than 60,420 students over the same month the previous year.

Clare O’Neil, the minister of home affairs, guarantees that the recently suggested actions will help bring the intake down to 375,000 by June 2024 and further down to 250,000 the following year. One important claim is that only changes in government policy will cause a 65,000 reduction in the current fiscal year and an extra 60,000 in the subsequent year.

This comes merely a few days after the United Kingdom and Canada introduced new policies to help curb the number of immigrants to the country.