DIMIA Annual Report 2001-02
1.1.5 Students and working holiday makers
Objective
The objective of this output component is to develop and administer visa arrangements that will assist growth of the export of education and tourism industries through the entry to Australia of genuine full-time students and working holiday makers.
Students
Description
On 1 July 2001, new visa arrangements replaced the gazetted/non-gazetted country system and the special entry arrangements for students from the People's Republic of China. The successful introduction of the new student visa arrangements was achieved through consultations and cooperation with the Affiliation of International Education Peak Bodies representing the international education industry.
The main change was the introduction of seven visa subclasses which relate to the principal course of study:
The reforms were designed to streamline the processing of applicants, and to ensure:
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greater transparency in what requirements need to be met to be granted a visa
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consistency in decisions about visa grants
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the integrity of the student visa program by using objective measures of risk to determine visa requirements.
Key results
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the provision of education services to overseas students is one of Australia's major export industries. Following the introduction of the student visa reforms a record number of 151,894 Student visas were granted in 2001-02.
This was a four per cent increase over the 2000-01 figure of 146,565 grants, which was itself a record. There were 97,650 offshore visa grants in 2001-02, an increase of 13 per cent compared with the previous year, and 54,244 onshore grants, a decrease of 10 per cent.
This onshore decrease can be attributed to a streamlining of the offshore grants where more students can package their educational plans, reducing the need to reapply for a further visa to undertake additional courses onshore. The above student visa grant figures exclude permission to work and change of provider visa grants -
the top 12 passport holders in terms of offshore student visa grants for program year 2001-02 were: PRC 13,452, USA 8,938, Malaysia 7,427, Hong Kong SAR 6,862, Japan 6,243, Indonesia 5,836, Thailand 5,341, Singapore 4,687, Republic of Korea 4,323, India 2,925, Taiwan 2,797 and Brazil 2,147
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the stock data table below demonstrates the steady growth in the number of student visa holders in Australia.
The stock data provides a 'snapshot' of the estimated number of overseas students in Australia on a given day. The data has been extracted at the end of each quarter of each program year from 1998-99 to 2001-02
SNAPSHOT OF ESTIMATED NUMBER OF OVERSEAS STUDENTS IN AUSTRALIA
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since August 2001, certain students from Norway, Sweden and the USA who are outside Australia have been able to apply for and be granted a student visa over the Internet without needing to visit an Australian visa office overseas and without the need for a visa label in their passports.
There were 7,445 student visas granted in 2001-02 using this facility. Following the success of this trial, electronic lodgement of student visa applications by students already in Australia was introduced on 28 February 2002.
As a result of these initiatives 1,624 student visa applications for further stay as students and 446 new applications were lodged by students already in Australia who applied over the Internet in 2001-02.
In addition, 1,081 permission to work applications were lodged directly over the Internet by students. From 1 July 2002 the offshore Internet based electronic student visa facility will be expanded to provide access to most assessment level one (low immigration risk) students -
since 1 March 2002 a visa processing centre for receiving student visa applications from the PRC has been on trial in Adelaide.
The purpose of this new arrangement is to manage the increasing number of applications from the PRC, to reduce overall processing times and enable DIMIA offices in China to focus more on integrity checking.
Processing times have reduced to 12 weeks compared to 16 weeks prior to the commencement of the trial.
Processing times are expected to fall further as the Adelaide visa processing centre takes on a greater assessment role -
DIMIA has worked closely with the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) on improving the integrity of the student visa program.
Introduction of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act (2000) on 4 June 2001 has compelled education providers to report on students who do not adhere to their visa conditions in terms of enrolment, attendance and academic performance.
Reporting is done on-line through the award winning PRISMS system. These system and legislative initiatives were implemented by DEST with significant DIMIA input. The integrity of the enrolment of students is now confirmed through PRISMS.
Automatic visa cancellation procedures require students to attend a DIMIA office within a prescribed period to satisfactorily explain an education provider's PRISMS generated report. Students who do not attend have their visa cancelled automatically -
the effectiveness and the efficiency of the new measures is demonstrated by the significant increase in student visa cancellations to 7,049 in program year 2001-02, compared to 3,990 in the previous program year
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the number of students applying for a protection visa in Australia has fallen from 814 in 2000-01 to 658 in 2001-02
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education providers whose practices do not support the integrity of the student visa program are now subject to laws that provide both DIMIA and DEST with production notice and search powers to ensure that student and provider records can be obtained.
Appropriate sanctions can be imposed on providers who do not comply with requirements.
Working Holiday Makers
Description
Australia's working holiday maker program aims to promote international understanding by helping young people experience the culture of another country, especially through people to people contacts.
Through such contact with working holiday makers, Australians, particularly those living in regional areas, are able to gain a better appreciation of other nationalities, languages and cultures.
Working holiday makers are also an important source of supplementary labour for those industries requiring short-term casual workers.
But more importantly, most of the money they earn in Australia is put back into the economy, thereby generating growth and employment. This generates extra jobs in the hospitality industry as well as other sectors.
Key results
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research by the University of Melbourne estimates that working holiday makers spend around $1.3b. annually in Australia
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new reciprocal working holiday maker arrangements were negotiated with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, Finland and the Republic of Cyprus, bringing the total number of working holiday maker arrangements to 14
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there were 85,207 WHM visas granted in 2001- 02. This is an 11.3 per cent increase (8,657 visas) over 2000-01. Fig.15 demonstrates the increase in WHM visa grants since 1995
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over 30,000 working holiday visas were granted to young Australians by reciprocal arrangement countries during the same period.
Electronic Working Holiday visa
From 1 July 2002 eligible nationals from arrangement countries could apply outside Australia and be granted a working holiday visa over the Internet without needing to visit an Australia visa office overseas.