KATHMANDU: Australia has implemented stricter regulations for international student visas effective from Oct. 2. The new measures are expected to impact both current international students in Australia and those preparing to travel there for studies, including Nepali students.
Under the updated policy, students currently in Australia are prohibited from applying for new student visas from within the country, unless they are enrolling in a higher-level course. Furthermore, students whose current course has more than 12 months remaining are restricted from lodging new visa applications onshore. Those with less than 12 months left in their course may be eligible to apply from within Australia under specific conditions. Students who do not meet these criteria must apply from outside Australia.
These restrictions do not apply to students pursuing doctoral degrees, school-level students, those with diplomatic authorization, or students whose educational institutions have been closed or deregistered.
The new rules also impact the practice of remaining in Australia while awaiting a decision on a visa cancellation review. Students who file for a review must now reside outside Australia until a final decision is reached.
These changes follow previous government policies that restricted international students from bringing family members during their studies and barred family members of students on post-study work visas. The Australian government aims to reduce annual net migration from approximately 300,000 to 225,000. Recent reports indicate that the visa approval rate for Nepali students has declined to approximately 36 percent.
