50,000 Australian student visas awaiting review after ‘explosion’
Tens of thousands of students are awaiting review of their visa applications, with a bureaucrat warning they “simply don’t have the resources”.
Almost 50,000 student visas are awaiting review following a surge in overseas applicants, with a high-ranking bureaucrat warning they “simply don’t have the resources”.
The Administrative Review Tribunal, which reviews governmental decisions, is struggling to process a whopping 46,590 student visa decisions as of June 30, 2025.
A Senate estimates hearing was told student visa cases represented 38 per cent of the ART’s total case load, with more than 13,000 one to two years old.
Chief executive and Principal Registrar Michael Hawkins said the cases were consistent with an “explosion” in recent years.
Asked if staff were triaging student visa cases, Mr Hawkins was blunt.
“Well, there’s not a lot of triaging going on because we simply don’t have the resources to attack the study visa cohort,” he said.
Mr Hawkins said desperately-needed new recruits would be allocated to student and protection visas.
Visa applicants are handled by the Department of Home Affairs, but are sometimes referred to ART for review.
Mr Hawkins said 44 per cent of the 3886 finalisations between July and October 2025 resulted in a changed decision.
The hearing was told the total number of cases had increased by 10 per cent in just three months to a whopping 124,000 cases.
Migration jurisdiction matters represented 69,903 cases – up more than 10,000 since June 30 – while protection jurisdiction accounted for 40,413 cases.
The ART’s target is to complete 71,045 cases by the end of the year.
Asked about staff, Mr Hawkins said ART employed a total of 281.2 full-time equivalent roles as of October 31.
An additional 27 equivalent roles commenced on October 27, with a further 37 to join by June 2026.
Nonetheless, the agency was still short 97.9 full-time equivalent roles against a budget of 430.
Attorney-General’s Department secretary Katherine Jones PSM told the hearing there had been a “huge amount of activity” in terms of appointments to the ART.
Work was also being undertaken to support future appointments.
Originally published as 50,000 Australian student visas awaiting review after ‘explosion’
