Thursday 2nd June 2011/ac
Kelvin Thomson MP
Federal Member for Wills
Overseas Student Visa Breaches
An investigation by the Audit Office has discovered that in March 2010 a backlog of 350,000 non-compliance notices which had been issued concerning international students for breaches of their Visa conditions. Breaches relate to things such as when students fail to start a course, fail to attend classes, or fail to pass subjects. It is fair to say that many of these breaches would be regarded as not very serious. It is also fair to say that by March 2011 that 145,000 of the non-compliance notices had been resolved by departmental staff.
Nevertheless 350,000 breaches of Visa conditions is way too many when we remember that there were 400,000 overseas students living in Australia in 2009-10. It is a matter of real concern that the Auditor-General Ian McPhee found it was “not feasible for the department to actively monitor if all 400,000 students has breached their Visas”, including whether they had worked more than 20 hours a week. This is still more evidence that the doubling of overseas student numbers from 204,000 in June 2002 to 467,000 in June 2009 gave us an overseas student program which got quite out of control. In 2001 the Howard Government changed the rules to allow overseas students to remain in Australia after completing their courses in Australia, rather than requiring them to return to their home country as was previously the case. This turned the focus of the overseas student program from getting an education to getting permanent residence in Australia.
The fact that the Department cannot successfully monitor whether the conditions of student Visas are being adhered to indicates either that the number of student visas is still too high, or that we need to put more money into Departmental monitoring. Either way, the benefits of overseas student programs have been exaggerated, and the costs underestimated. Student visa conditions such as actually undertaking a course, and not working more than 20 hours a week, go to the heart of the purpose and integrity of the student visa program. They must be complied with.
Kelvin Thomson MP
Federal Member for Wills
