Australia has recently proposed some major changes to its student visa for international students due to COVID-19. The Australian government will be providing visas to the international students. It will eventually result in all the students having a visa when the border reopens.
What’s the impact on the post-study work rights?
All the current and new students can count their study period for the graduate working visa even if they are studying from their home country. This will definitely provide a huge sigh of relief to many students wanting to pursue their studies from Australia in this year but were thinking to cancel due to visa restrictions. The temporary graduate visa (subclass 485) provides international students with an opportunity to stay and work in Australia for 2 to 4 years after completing their studies. An additional time will also be given to the students to provide their English test results post Australian visa changes.
A Big Challenge for Australian Government
Like many other economies around the globe, Australia’s economy is also in a bad shape presently due to COVID-19. A lot of local people have also lost their jobs. The Government has been providing substantial financial support to the Australian citizens in the form of the jobkeeper payment every fortnight. But, this support has not been extended to the international students. Since Australia’s economy heavily relies on international students, therefore offering no financial support to the international students definitely hurt Australia’s image amongst the international students. However, these visa changes will definitely help in bringing back the tarnished reputation of Australia. It will symbolize Australia to be an open and welcoming nation.
Here, Australia also faces a challenge of differentiating itself from other top study destinations. Any policy changes must go over and beyond to reflect that Australia is highly determined to retain international students. The challenge is not only to convince the new students but also to target the students deferring their courses.
The latest data also reveals a sharp increase in the number of students deferring their courses. It is due to their financial constraints as well as them not considering their studies in Australia worth it anymore. The Government can ensure the students of the best quality offered by Australian Universities and new job opportunities coming ahead for the economy. This decision on Australian visa changes will definitely help reduce the rate at which the number of enrollments are falling at the moment.
Conclusion
Finally, we need to understand that international students have a significant contribution to the Australian economy. They contribute an estimated $40 billion every year and support around 250,000 jobs. It thus becomes equally important for the Australian Government to ensure that Australia maintains the highest standard of education. This will however remain a challenge for the Government to spend money in the right direction. It will have to balance out between the requirements of the local citizens and the international students. If you are looking forward to guiding the students coming to your agencies in the right direction, don’t forget to sign up at Agentcis. It is an efficient CRM system for overseas education agents and migration agents. You can sign up for a 14-days free trial here.
