Australia plans to slow process international student visas; experts unimpressed

This is a replacement to the controversial Ministerial Direction 107 (MD107) which was enacted in December 2023, and gave visa processing priority to ‘low risk’ sandstone universities and students from ‘low risk’ nations.

“So we have been pretty upfront about it, it will prioritise visas for students going to those regional and smaller universities, which is something that we’d wanted to do through that legislation, and it will just help us manage that international student numbers which, as we’ve said, have contributed to quite substantial growth in numbers of people coming to Australia,” Federal Financial Minister Katy Gallagher was quoted saying by the Australian media.

This decision hasn’t gone down well with all experts as some believe that these constant changes can confuse the international students who aspire to pursue higher studies in Australia. They also fear that these ‘confusing’ changes can make Australia seem unwelcoming for aspirants.

Vicki Thomson, the chief executive of the Group of Eight, representing the eight elite research universities in Australia, believes that “having set targets for each Australian university’s international enrolments for 2025, it makes no sense that prompt Government support in processing visas will only apply to 80% of that target.”

Experts also added that this sudden change in policies ‘seems designed to leave significant budget holes for Australian universities, without financial compensation’.

“In the absence of a legislated cap, the Government has set a ‘Prioritisation Threshold’ – the basis of which remains unclear. Even more bewildering is the fact that the Direction allows for processing to be slowed down once this threshold reaches 80 percent – not the full threshold. Despite there being no legislative basis for setting international student numbers, our universities have set budgets based on a number provided to them by Government several months ago. Now, with just days before the end of the year, and with little apparent rationale, this number has shifted again,” Vicki added.