Fears over Indian students in Australia were addressed.
In the wake of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s tough talk on immigration, the Australian High Commission have had to step in to end speculation in India about imminent changes to student visas.
As a large proportion of overseas students studying in Australia come from India, the tough talking by Australia’s first female Prime Minister has provoked concern there that Australia was about to make it even harder for Indian students to study in Australia.
The Australian High Commission therefore, have had to clarify issues to do with Australian immigration policy to quell the rumours. They issued a statement which read: “In response to recent media reports on changes to Australia’s skilled migration program, the High Commission would like to clarify the following points. First we are making changes to Australia’s skilled migration program, not our student visa program.”
Some GSM visas have now been capped by the DIAC, but none of these have been student visas, the visas affected by the capping and ceasing policy are:
- Subclass 134 – Skill Matching
- Subclass 136 – Skilled Independent
- Subclass 137 – Skilled State/Territory-Nominated Independent
- Subclass 138 – Skilled Australian Sponsored
- Subclass 139 – Skilled Designated Area Sponsored.
None of these apply to the many students studying in Australia and contrary to rumour, no student is now going to be sent home. All can continue to study in their chosen courses, at the end of which, they still have the right to apply for an additional 18 month stay in Australia.
The High Commission also disputed that the changes were aimed at India; “the changes we are making to our skilled migration program are global changes. They are not targeted at India or any other country. They were not triggered by the problems of the last year over attacks on Indian students.”
On visa capping the High Commission stated that the Capping Bill is currently before the Australian Parliament and that it is designed to “meet the labour market needs of the Australian economy as flexibly as possible.” But confirmed that the DIAC had no plans to extend that capping to student visas.
Overseas students in Australia are worth millions for the Australian economy and as the majority of those students are from India, it was vital for the Australian Commission to respond to the concerns of the student community and deny reports that they were actively discouraging students from India. It is now hoped that Australia can continue to be seen as a welcoming country for overseas students.
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2 Responses to “Australian High Commission Moves to Quash Student Visa Fears”
Comment by Siddharth — July 13, 2010 @ 4:25 am
I moved to Australia about 6 months back. The study here has been good and i have adjusted well. I recommend Indian students to go for it, i didn’t think i would get accepted but i made it and now i’m getting a degree in Australia!!!
Comment by dhaval — July 13, 2010 @ 7:05 pm
Hi there, Hi there, australian government is deceiving Indian Government. The issue is here thousand of people already applied for residency and they want to terminate that application that is Visa capping bill and moreover we have no right to appeal against this decision. Here Australian media do not helping us in this issue. But This is not fair. If this bill is pass our application will be terminated and we have no right to appeal in the Migration Court too. that is the bill.
So we need Indian media to raise this issue.Please help us