After the Australia’s new Prime Minister has talked tough about the nation’s immigration policies, there were speculations that immigration would become harder for Indian students. Of late, the Australian High Commission had attempted to give an end to all the speculations and rumors revolving the changes to the Australian student visas.
Indians constitute a major portion of the world overseas student population in Australia. Julia Gillard’s comments in immigration policies have created hassle and fear among the students. But, the High Commission’s statement has come across as a relief to the students who are already in Oz or intending to immigrate to the nation, not only Indians, but other overseas students as well.
The statement from the Australian high commission stated that the nation is making changes to the skilled migration program. The speculations regarding changes to the student visa program are completely baseless. Australia is bringing no change to the student program as of now.
The Australian Immigration Department has put limit to the number of people entering Australia under certain General skilled Migration visa categories. They are:
- Skill Matching
- Skilled Independent
- Skilled State/Territory-Nominated Independent
- Skilled Australian Sponsored
- Skilled Designated Area Sponsored
For the uninitiated, Skill Matching category fall under the Subclass 134; Skilled Independent under Subclass 136; Skilled State/Territory-Nominated Independent under Subclass 137; Skilled Australian Sponsored under Subclass 138; and Skilled Designated Area Sponsored under Subclass 139.
As we can see, none of the aforementioned visa categories is a student visa. The High Commission has also said that overseas students will not be sent back to their home countries and they are all free to pursue their chosen courses in the nation. It has also been cleared by the Commission that the changes to the immigration policies are not targeted at India.
