Post on 27-Sep-2020
transcript
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Second level heading
Third level heading
Australia’s Student Visa
Programme
Michelle Pearce - Consul &
Principal Migration Officer DIBP
Australia
ANZA - ICEF Auckland 28 April 2015
Outline of Presentation
• The role of the student visa programme
• Recent trends
• Recent reforms and review
• Q & A
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Role of Australia’s Student visa programme
• Opportunity to study internationally recognised courses
• Strengthens economic, cultural, social and diplomatic interests for Australia – Asia Pacific region
• Supports international education sector –significant export industry
• Government committed to facilitating genuine international students
Student Visas – a snapshot
Statistics
Uncapped programme
1/10/2014402,363 Visa Holders (highest since 2010)
Bulk in Higher Education Sector (subclass 573) 179,266 and VET sector (subclass 572) 71,368
Top 5 Source
countriesChina, India, Vietnam, Nepal & South Korea
Source: DIBP Student Visa programme quarterly report 31/12/2014
Australia’s Student visa subclasses
Subclass Sector
570 ELICOS – English language
571 Schools
572 Vocational Education and Training
573 Higher Education
574 Postgraduate Research
575 Non-Award
576 AusAID/Defence
580 Student Guardian
Top source countries
Citizenship Country
Student Visa
grants 13-1431/12/13
Student visa
grants 14-1531/12/14
1.China 28 440 32 612
2.India 14 107 16 302
3.South Korea 5 964 6 095
4.Brazil 6 784 5 964
5.Thailand 5 161 5 728
6.Nepal 5 326 4 950
7.Vietnam 6 365 4 940
8.Indonesia 4 193 4 384
General Student Visa Criteria
Generally, there are six criteria for students visas:
1. Electronic Confirmation of Enrolment (eCOE)
2. Genuine temporary entrant
3. Sufficient funds for airfares, course fees and living costs
4. English language proficiency
5. Meet health & character requirements
6. Overseas Student Health Cover
If visa granted, student can work – 40hours/fn and must meet visa conditions.
• Government’s dual focus – facilitate genuine
international students and ensure integrity of
programme
• 2011 - Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirement &
Fraud Public Interest Criteria PIC 4020 (Knight review)
• 2012 - Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP)
arrangements - faster
• 2013 - Post-study work arrangements introduced &
Gov’t abolished mandatory cancellation for student
visas - fairer
• 2014 - Assessment Level framework simplified
Reforms to Australia’s student visa programme 2011-14
Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirement
• An important integrity measure.
• Assessment of the GTE requirement is based on a holistic consideration of all the applicant’s circumstances to determine whether, on balance, it is likely that the applicant is a genuine student and genuinely intends a temporary stay in Australia.
• Not designed to exclude students who develop appropriate skills to obtain further temporary visas or permanent residence through labour market programmes (eg s/c 485, SkillSelect etc)
• Has made other positive reforms, such as streamlined visa processing arrangements possible.
Streamlined Visa Processing
• What is streamlined visa processing (SVP)?
• SVP aims to assist genuine students and temporary entrants to be assessed for an Australian student visa as though they are a low immigration risk, irrespective of their country of citizenship.
• Visa applicants hold a COE for SVP and have reduced evidentiary requirements for Immigration. The education provider assesses criteria such as English language , academic capability and finances.
• Education provider responsibilities under SVP
Assessment Level Framework simplified
• From 22 March 2014, Assessment Level (AL)
Framework used for managing immigration risk
(based on nationality & student visa) reviewed.
Simplified from four to three levels AL1, AL2 and
AL3
• All AL4 reduced to AL3
• Benefits - Eg. Financial requirements for Fijian
student subclass 573 Bachelors degree reduced
from 24 to 12 months evidence of funds &
English level reduced from IELTS 6.0 to 5.5.
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After Study - The Temporary Graduate
(s/c 485) visa• The Temporary Graduate (Subclass 485) visa
provides eligible graduates from both the higher
education & the vocational education and training
(VET) sectors with a valuable opportunity to gain
work experience in the Australian labour market
to enhance their Australian qualification. Two streams:
• Post Study Work Stream or
• Graduate Work stream
• 22,867 temporary graduate visas granted in 13-14
More Information
• DIBP website www.immi.gov.au/students
Includes Australian student visa information:
• Streamlined Visa Processing Arrangements
• Assessment Level Framework
• Genuine temporary entrant
• Document checklists & form 1025i
• Lodging a visa – AVAC & Online
• Statistics