The Albanese government has decided to allow international students to express their intent to migrate when completing their visa applications under new reforms.
By making such changes, Australia wants to favor the permanent migration of students to the country instead of temporary migration, VisaGuide.World reports.
In line with the current guidelines from Home Affairs, international students applying for a visa are required to meet the requirement of being a Genuine Temporary Entrant where the purpose of stay in the country is limited to the scope of tertiary education, Sky News explains.
Moreover, to pass the Genuine Temporary Entrant, students must also provide a 300-word statement that includes details on their circumstances surrounding the decision to study abroad. However, students cannot declare their intention to gain residency in Australia through the study program.
According to Sky News, student applicants who try to use their Student Visa as a means of working as well as living in the country are immediately rejected.
Nonetheless, after dealing with shortages in different sectors throughout the country, the Labor government has pushed for increased immigration activity.
Following this request, the GTE condition will be removed, and the policy will also be amended to permit aspiring migrants.
As explained, the visa requirements will move to a Genuine Student Test instead. The Genuine Student Test will permit the consideration of certain applicants who are highly skilled and who can contribute to the workforce of Australia to remain in the country after finishing their studies.
The Migration Review’s final report, which was released in March of this year, said that Australia should be more focused on capturing the potential of international students. It also stressed that the student visa program should be one of the important sources of skilled migrants.
“The migration system has supported strong growth in the education export sector. The Student visa program should be an important source of high-performing, skilled migrants, but has not delivered on its potential,” a part of the report said.
In addition to the above-mentioned, the report recommended that the student visa settings be expanded in order to ensure that the labor force of the country maximises the opportunity to support as well as retain high-performing university graduates.
Some prominent figures in the education sector have been pushing for reforms for some time now. The CEO of the International Education Association of Australia, Phil Honeywood, said that too many applicants have been denied a visa for being honest about their intention to work in Australia after they finished their studies.
The same said that the country needs to do more work to keep those who are willing to remain in Australia for work purposes.
