International students worry about Australia migration changes.
The Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans has moved to allay students’ fears about visas following recent changes to the Australian visa program.
Australian students had been planning more street protests this weekend to object against any capping of overseas student numbers.
The pro-vice chancellor Jennie Lang waded into the debate by telling The Australian newspaper that any cap of international student numbers would be the “kiss of death” for an industry that generates some $18 billion into the Australian economy.
“It will trigger a massive downturn in applications to Australia and an upturn in applications to the UK and US.” Ms Lang told The Australian. She further stated that it sent out a clear message to overseas students that they were not welcome in Australia.
However Senator Chris Evans responded to the comments by releasing a statement which said that there was no basis for the concerns raised by education providers. “I want to assure the university sector and all providers of quality education that Australia will continue to welcome students from across the globe to study in our country.”
He went on to clarify the situation regarding the Australian immigration program: “The proposed legislation is designed to provide flexibility in the management of the general skilled migration program and to ensure we are able to get the balance right when it comes to targeting the skilled workers we need.”
The legislation in question is the new Bill that will be passed next week which will allow the DIAC to cap and cease not only certain visa sub-classes but also category of applicants. So for instance applicants applying for a certain occupation could find their numbers capped according to their IELTS score.
The government however deny that students have anything to fear from the new changes and indeed there are no plans to cap or cease any visas at present. If you want to find out more about studying in Australia take a look at our student visa guide.
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