Australia’s visa backlog, which could potentially worsen, is a matter of concern for international students.
Reports suggest that immigration officials are being reassigned from processing student visas to deal with a growing number of asylum applications, a shift that could significantly affect the visa processing for international students.
As explained, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is reallocating resources from student visas to focus on refugee and defense visa cases. However, DHA declined to comment on these internal arrangements, VisaGuide.World reports.
Immigration expert Abul Rizvi predicts an increase in asylum claims from former students, pointing to a rise in the number of temporary graduates in Australia – from less than 89,000 in mid-2021 to over 216,000 by mid-2024, Times Higher Education noted.
Data show that only about 32,000 of these graduates obtained permanent residency in 2022-2023.
Despite the current weaker job market and stricter policies, including a ban on temporary graduates seeking further study visas without leaving the country, many international students are showing resilience. As a result, they are facing challenges and finding ways to stay in Australia.
According to Rizvi, asylum applications are at record highs, with many unsuccessful applicants seeking reviews from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. This includes many Malaysians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indians, and Indonesians—key student groups. Vietnamese students, in particular, are facing unusually long waits for Australian student visas.
Students From Vietnman Experiencing Australia Visa Delays of up to 5 Months
Deputy Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, Renee Deschamps, reported that 90 percent of Vietnamese students are experiencing processing delays of three to five months. According to the Australian Department of Education, there are currently over 37,000 Vietnamese students in Australia, a 49 percent increase from last year. In response to the delays, the Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia, Pham Hung Tam, has called for faster processing times.
Meanwhile, the Australian Department of Home Affairs data shows that only 12,600 Vietnamese students received visas over the past ten months, with an approval rate of 78.7 percent—the lowest in 18 years.
Moreover, Australia will impose caps on international student commencements and visa issuances starting next year. The federal government plans to limit new international student numbers to 270,000 for 2025.
They range from 11,900 at the University of Sydney and 10,000 at Monash University to 1,100 at Federation University, 1,000 at Charles Sturt University and the University of Southern Queensland, and 700 at the Universities of New England and Notre Dame Australia.
This cap will allocate approximately 145,000 spots for public universities and about 95,000 for vocational institutions. The new limit is around 7,000 fewer than pre-pandemic levels and 53,000 below the previous year’s figures.