The Albanese government is preparing to tighten Australia’s temporary migration system, targeting people accused of moving repeatedly between visas to remain in the country indefinitely.
Starting Friday, new limits will apply to many international students and recent graduates seeking to bring partners or children to Australia.
PhD candidates, recipients of Australian or overseas government scholarships, and applicants from ASEAN and Pacific countries will be excluded from some of the restrictions. However, eligible dependants must be included when the primary student visa is approved.
International students who want to change their university course will also face a new visa application fee of about $1,200.
Students have previously been allowed to transfer courses after six months of study. Under the interim reforms, that waiting period will rise to 12 months, before a separate visa requirement is expected to begin in July next year.
People already in Australia on temporary visas—including working holidaymaker and temporary employer-sponsored visas—will generally be prevented from applying for a student visa from within the country.
The changes follow a broader package of migration reforms outlined by Immigration Minister Tony Burke during a National Press Club address in September.
Assistant Minister for International Education Julian Hill said the measures were intended to curb “visa hopping”, according to the Australian Financial Review.
International students who change university courses could have to pay about $1,200 for a new visa, while many will face tighter requirements when seeking to bring partners or children to Australia. The students pictured are at the University of Sydney’s Camperdown campus.
Assistant Minister Julian Hill discussed the reforms on Friday, saying they were aimed at stopping people from moving between visas and exploiting Australia’s migration system.
“One of the biggest problems has been the growth in permanently temporary migrants,” Hill said in a keynote speech to the Migration Institute of Australia in Sydney on Friday.
He described people who move from one visa to another for years, sometimes spending most of their adult lives in Australia and raising children who are now Australian citizens, despite never qualifying for skilled migration or remaining on bridging visas while waiting for a permanent outcome.
“When Australians travel to another country, they do not assume they have a God-given right to move between visas for years or decades, or to manipulate that nation’s appeals and court systems—and visitors to Australia should not expect to do so either,” he said.
Mr Hill also cautioned migration agents and lawyers against weakening the system by submitting visa applications or claims that lack a credible basis.
He criticised online advertisements that allegedly instruct people to falsely claim they are bisexual or pretend to face persecution in order to support a protection visa application.
“That is not legal representation. It is the misuse of the migration system for profit,” he said.
“Ultimately, I do not have confidence in the policy regime governing how lawyers engage with the migration system.”
Nearly 688,000 international students were enrolled in Australia in the year to June. China was the largest source of students, followed by India, Nepal, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
Despite the significant figures, the rate of student visa rejections has soared to 35 per cent, up from 23 per cent in the same period last year, according to data from the Department of Home Affairs.
The overhaul of student visa rules comes as the Albanese government attempts to bring net overseas migration down from almost 300,000 a year to a target of 225,000 by 2028.
Under the sweeping reforms, parameters around the skilled migration program will also be tightened.
Priority will be given to those working in healthcare, construction, teaching, resources, agriculture, aquaculture and fishing.