Immigration Minister Andrew Giles axes pandemic visa

The government will shut down the controversial pandemic event visa which allowed 150,000 temporary visitors and students to work in Australia.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

The federal government will shut down the controversial pandemic event visa that allowed 150,000 temporary visitors to work in Australia and caused tens of thousands of international students to desert their courses and take full-time jobs.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles announced on Thursday an end to the pandemic event visa (subclass 408), saying the circumstances that justified it no longer exist.

The visa was an emergency measure introduced during Covid to allow international students and other temporary residents to work full-time in Australia to support themselves at a time when it was difficult, and expensive, for them to get home.

However, there has since been a rush for the 12-month pandemic event visa as students and other temporary residents took advantage of the fact it was free and allowed holders to work full-time in the strong job market here.

The visa was strongly backed by business because it helped alleviate labour shortages experienced since the economy opened up after the pandemic.

Following the government’s decision, new applications for the pandemic event visa will be refused from midnight Friday and those holding the visa will have until February to apply for an extension, which will be limited to six months. Only one extension will be available, costing $405.

Mr Giles said many people with pandemic event visas had helped Australia during Covid.

“We’re providing an opportunity for people who hold a pandemic event visa to explore another visa option, or plan to leave Australia,” he said. “Under the Liberals, our migration system wasn’t working for anyone. There was no plan to deal with how the borders reopened.”

Last month The Australian revealed Labor granted more pandemic event visas in its first 10 months in office than the Coalition had in the 20 months before international borders reopened in November 2021.

The international education industry hailed the end of the pandemic event visa, saying it had led students to ditch courses and take up the free visa, which allowed them to work full-time. According to the government, an estimated 30 per cent of the 150,000 pandemic event visa holders were former students.

“This measure is welcome in terms of reinstating our reputation as a high-quality study country,” said International Education Association of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood. “We’ve had far too many students jumping out of study into full-time work.”

The visa has also been opening up opportunities for new rorts, with dodgy education agents urging non-genuine students to come to Australia on a student visa then drop out of their course, apply for a pandemic event visa and join the full-time workforce.

Independent Tertiary Education Australia CEO Troy Williams said recently that international students who took pandemic event visas “often abandon their studies while still owing money to their education provider and with no intention of paying,”

In a fact sheet issued on Thursday the Home Affairs Department said this was a particular problem for English language colleges “where international students were withdrawing from courses upon arrival”.