Covid-era visa sparks student worker boom

Almost 66,000 international students and temporary workers are having their stays in Australia extended under a pandemic event visa.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said Labor had inherited a migration system ’with backlog after backlog, delays and waitlists’. Picture: Arsineh Houspian. ​

Almost 66,000 international students and temporary workers are having their stays in Australia extended under a special Covid-era permit, fuelling claims that the surge in visa approvals is creating a “Big Australia” by stealth.

The Australian can reveal new figures showing Labor has granted more pandemic event visas in its first 10 months than were given when international borders were shut.

The Albanese government has processed more Covid-19 special work visas than the ­Coalition granted over the 20 months before international borders began reopening in Nov­ember 2021.

Visa processing data provided by the Department of Home Affairs to Liberal senator James Paterson shows a surge in Labor’s use of the pandemic event visa to the end of March.

Despite calls from the international education industry to end the pandemic permit, the government issued 65,859 special Covid-19 visas between June and March – including almost 27,000 in the first three months of 2023.

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the jump in arrivals was “worsening housing shortages, driving record rent increases, adding to congestion, putting upward pressure on interest rates and impacting the environment”.

“The Covid-19 pandemic event visa is still open despite the fact the pandemic is over,” Mr Tehan told The Australian.

“Labor claim they don’t want a big Australia but judge them by their actions, not their words. Labor is bringing 1.5 million ­people to Australia over five years and they have no answers for where they will live, what this will do to congestion or how it will impact the environment and quality of life.”

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

About 23,900 Covid work visas were granted to international students by the government, eclipsing the 11,885 permits approved by the ­Coalition during the pandemic.

In February and March this year, more than 10,700 pandemic event visas for international students were processed. Since the special Covid working permit was established in April 2020, almost 160,000 pandemic event visas have been approved.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said Labor had inherited a migration system “with backlog after backlog, delays and waitlists” and the government “hadn’t wasted a day in cleaning up the mess left by the former Liberal government”.

“Under the Liberals, our migration system wasn’t working for anyone,” Mr Giles said.

“We had a pile of almost one million visa applications left in the in tray and no plan to deal with workforce shortages when the borders reopened.

“We’ve brought wait times down, and we’re working to make sure our migration system is working again for all Aus­tralians after a decade of mess and mismanagement under the Liberals.”

Amid severe labour shortages and employers struggling to find workers, the Covid-19 pandemic event visa (subclass 408) allows people to work if employed or if they have an offer of employment in any sector of the economy.

The international education industry has urged the government to end special pandemic work visas. Picture: John Appleyard

The Home Affairs website says temporary graduate visa holders can “apply for and be granted a pandemic event visa with a two-year period of stay”.

The pandemic event visa allows holders to remain in Australia for 12 months and include “members of the family unit in your application”.

In March, The Australian revealed that the international education industry was urging the government to end special pandemic work visas over fears it was being rorted by people who were in Australia to find a job rather than study.

International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood said the temporary visa must be abolished as it was being exploited as a backroom way for international students to get full work rights.

International Education Association of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood. Picture: Nikki Short

Mr Honeywood said the visa had been providing “cannon fodder” for corporate Australia to source workers to take up low-paying jobs and he was hopeful the visa would be shut down imminently. “The visa has been allowed to stay open for way too long,” he said. “The sector has had recent assurances from the government that this subclass is not likely to remain in place for much longer. Education providers are fed up with losing large numbers of students into this 12-month, full work rights visa.”

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar, saying the pandemic visa had served its purpose, endorsed calls for it to be shut down.

“The Covid-19 pandemic event visa has served its purpose and it’s time to move on,” Mr McKellar told The Australian.

“Business is working with government in a systematic way to support reforms (to) deliver a more targeted temporary skilled visa system for the future.”

In a separate response to Labor senator Helen Polley about visa applications, the Home Affairs Department revealed the number of migration and temporary visa applications finalised in the financial year to March had increased by 290.5 per cent to almost 6.2 million people.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil is due to release the government’s formal response to the Parkinson migration review by September.

Speculation is mounting that Labor is preparing to break up the Home Affairs super department following moves by the government to appoint veteran public servant Stephanie Foster as “associate secretary” leading immigration operations and ­policy.

Since the May election last year, the federal government has thrown resources at processing the Covid-era backlog of visas to help fill labour shortages across the economy.