Has the government got it wrong on student visas?

Given the headlines and your own experiences in the last few weeks, some of you may be surprised that I think the answer is: yes they have got it wrong on the implementation of their changes, but I think they are right with the policy intent.

And in the longer term it is going to be the policy intent that is going to be much more difficult for some education agents and providers to adjust to – as I have previously highlighted.

For the moment though, with the current problems impacting many providers and students (all before the new Genuine Student test is introduced) it is unsurprising that the Koala News is reporting that in the first Council for International Education meeting for 2024, the Minister for Home Affairs “listened to feedback about some of the well-publicised issues the sector representatives brought to her attention… took a number of the issues raised onboard and will come back to the sector if required.”

Following the release of the Migration Strategy, the sector quite properly expected that in addition to measures to strengthen provider integrity, the government would move immediately to:

• increase English language requirements for prospective students
• apply greater and more targeted scrutiny to student visa applications from high risk providers (and prioritise processing applications from low risk providers)
• increase the staffing in the student visa integrity unit in the Department of Home Affairs to reduce misuse of Australia’s student visa system
• restrict onshore “visa hopping”, and
• strengthen and simplify Temporary Graduate visas.

For most providers those changes should have had a minimal impact on their rates of visa rejections.

Unfortunately what has happened simultaneously is (a) providers with higher risk ratings have themselves decided to withdraw Confirmations of Enrolment from students they consider more likely to have their applications rejected – because the providers want to reduce their risk ratings (so they do not lose future students to low risk providers able to get applications processed more quickly) and (b) the Department of Home Affairs appears to have moved ahead of the announcement of the criteria for the new Genuine Student Test and started to refuse visa applications from students who appear unlikely to gain as much benefit from their course as it will cost them to study in Australia.

It is the latter issue which is the real long term policy issue the sector will need to grapple with.

In the meantime there is the issue of how these changes are being implemented.

When the Migration Strategy was released I cautioned subscribers in one of my regular updates that “the real impact for the sector rests on how the Department of Home Affairs chooses to follow through on these changes (ie will they be influenced by the “too many students” public tone or the “nuanced” policy tone (of the Migration Strategy))?”

I also noted that the new staff being recruited “will likely need a lot of training to make good decisions, and hence this might initially lead to increased levels of visa rejections.”

It is to be hoped that the Minister for Home Affairs comes back to the Council promptly and advises them that officials will be properly implementing the government’s changes in the manner intended, and that visa rejections and delays will be addressed.

Then the sector can start thinking about the Genuine Student Test and its long term implications for the sector – which will likely mean, amongst other impacts, that some providers will need to reduce student fees to provide greater value for money for the significant investments students and their families make in their futures.