Study and stay: new rules for foreign student visas

International students will no longer be penalised for revealing that they want to migrate to Australia as part of their visa application.

Malaysian student Leesa Zulkefli, left, with fellow Sydney University students Alina Lin and Natsaran Ang. Picture: Jane Dempster

International students will no longer be penalised for revealing that they want to migrate to Australia as part of their visa application, under reforms by the Albanese government that further benefit overseas arrivals who want to become residents.

The change is part of the move from the Genuine Temporary ­Entrant requirement to a Genuine Student Test, after a push from the higher education sector to allow more students to study in high-­demand fields.

Under the current test international students are required to submit a 300-word statement outlining their plans to study in Australia to prove they are a “genuine temporary entrant”, and applications that explicitly state that they want to stay in Australia are automatically binned. The Australian understands this requirement will be axed as part of the transition to a Genuine Student Test.

Labor’s new policy platform backed at national conference last week “favours permanent over temporary migration, to create a nation of people with equal rights and a shared interest in our ­national success”.

International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood said the industry had been pushing for the requirement to be dropped to encourage high-value international students to bolster the nation’s workforce.

“They throw them out if you dare mention that you would like to get a migration outcome from study in Australia, you are automatically denied a student visa,” he said.

International students would be a valuable asset to combat crippling workforce shortages especially in the science, technology and allied health sectors.

“Too many genuine student applicants have been denied entry merely for being honest about what they hope to achieve when they graduate with a world-class Australian qualification,” Mr Honeywood said.

“For those who do want to stay – and if we want to attract the skills that we need particularly in STEM and allied health – then we’re cutting off our nose despite our face by denying them entry because they wouldn’t mind migrating to Australia.”

British international students Jennifer Campbell, Issie Bentley, Emily Etty, Lisa Hustaedt and Isabella Johnson at Sydney University. Picture: Jane Dempster

Malaysian student Leesa Zulkefli, 25, said she applied for her visa to study at Sydney University through an agency that repeatedly advised her not to reveal in her personal statement that she wanted to migrate to Australia. “They kept specifying; even if your intention is to migrate, say that you will not,” she said.

“Make it as convincing as possible that you’re not looking to ­migrate. And that’s the only way to accept your visa application.”

Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said the change would encourage more migrants to come to Australia and place further strain on the nation’s housing supply, with a record 610,000 student visa-holders ­already in the country.

“Under Labor, 1.5 million ­people will arrive over five years and there is no plan for where they will live or how to manage the impact on government services and the environment,” Mr Tehan said.

“Labor’s solution to the multitude of problems on their watch is to make it more attractive and easier for international students to come to Australia and seek permanent residency.”

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said in her April that international students were a “very ­important part of the puzzle” to ­reforming the nation’s broken immigration system and addressing workforce shortages. “We want to ensure that high-performing students, with the skills we need, are given the chance to stay,” she said.

The review of the migration system released in March warned that international students were not reaching their potential in the labour market after graduation under the current migration settings, meaning that Australia “misses the opportunity to support and retain the best and brightest”.

The Australian revealed last week that the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency warned education providers of the “significant” risk that large numbers of international students ­arriving in Australia were not qualified for their course and not genuinely intending to study.

Ms O’Neil, who is expected to release the Albanese government migration strategy toward the end of the year, declined to comment.