Australia to introduce new priority student visa processing mechanism

The Australian Government has just made a new move regarding student visas to enhance and balance the distribution of international students between educational institutions and between densely populated and less populated areas.

The information was announced on November 10, according to an official announcement from the government of this country. Specifically, the current Directive 111 will be abolished and replaced by the new Directive 115, effective from November 14. According to the new regulations, visa processing resources are allocated fairly to all educational institutions. Schools that comply with the new student enrollment quota (NOSC) stipulated in the National Plan (NPL) will be given priority to process student visas faster.

Specifically, according to the Australian Department of Home Affairs website, Directive 115 prioritizes student visa processing into 3 groups depending on the level of compliance with the new enrollment quota of the schools. Priority 1 is the institutions that have not recruited 80% of the quota, any applicants applying to study at these schools will be processed within 1-4 weeks from the date of submission. Groups 2 and 3 are schools that have reached 80-115% and over 115% of the quota, with processing times of 5-8 and 9-12 weeks, respectively.

The Australian Government notes that processing times may vary, particularly during peak seasons or when there is a surge in applications, and emphasises that priority will not influence the decision to grant or refuse a student visa.

According to Mr. Julian Hill, Deputy Minister in charge of international education, Directive 115 was issued to affirm the Australian Government's efforts to maintain the quality, integrity and sustainability of the island nation's international education system. The new Directive also helps to better support enrolment at small-scale vocational education and training (VET) institutions.

Mr Hill added that thanks to the measures to control growth, the number of student visa applications had fallen by more than 26% in the past year and enrolments were down 16% compared to the previous year. He called the growth rate “more stable” than the government had hoped.

Australian university representatives advise Vietnamese students at an event in 2024

PHOTO: NGOC LONG

This is the third time the Australian government has adjusted the way it prioritizes student visa processing in recent years. Previously, in 2023, Australia issued Directive 107, prioritizing the processing of student visa applications based on the risk level of educational institutions. By the end of 2024, after facing many controversies, Directive 107 was abolished and replaced by Directive 111, requiring priority visa processing based on the quota rate, but only considered at two levels: schools that have not and have reached 80% of the quota.

Thus, Directive 115 does not have any major changes compared to the current directive, only adding a new level of handling for schools that recruit new international students exceeding the quota.

The Australian Government also noted that some groups that were previously exempt from the quota under the old directive will continue to be exempt under the new directive, including: secondary school students, postgraduate research students, people studying joint training programs, English language independent courses (ELICOS) and people who have received government scholarships.

According to the Australian Department of Education, as of August, there were a total of 804,555 international students studying in Australia. Vietnam had 35,780 people, ranking 4th and slightly down compared to the same period last year (36,490 people). Of these, 5,259 Vietnamese people had just started studying in Australia, while the remaining 30,521 people had been studying for many years. By region, the largest number of Vietnamese people is currently in Victoria state with more than 14,700 people.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/uc-sap-ap-dung-co-che-uu-tien-xu-ly-visa-du-hoc-moi-185251111194735956.htm