This Month
- Exclusive
- Immigration
Plan to slug international students with big increase in visa fees
Sensitive about high migration numbers, the Albanese government is set to massively increase fees for student visa applications.
- Julie Hare
Visa rejections hit record as overseas students top 700,000
There were 713,000 international students living in Australia in February, but a corner has been turned as visa rejections pile up.
- Julie Hare
March
Labor alarm as migration likely to reach historic high
Federal Labor has brought forward elements of its crackdown on international student visa rorts, amid growing anxiety about migration levels into Australia.
- Tom McIlroy and Julie Hare
Big super ready to retake M&A test at Campus Living Villages
Sources said Campus owners, which last fronted bidders via UBS in 2016, are putting it back on the auction block after whipping it into shape.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
The big hole in housing as international students soar
International students will need 10,500 extra student housing beds annually over the next five years, but only 3500 are being built annually.
- Campbell Kwan
Students flocking to Australia despite visa confusion
International students are still flooding into the country, but record visa rejections have some wondering what’s going on.
- Julie Hare
Foreign students are saving the economy
International student spending accounted for more than half the 1.5 per cent increase in GDP in 2023, according to new research from NAB.
- Michael Read
Student visa chaos: knockbacks and delays rife, unis say
Visa refusal rates have hit an all-time high, with some countries getting no approvals at all in recent months. Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil is sticking to her guns.
- Julie Hare
February
‘Everyone will be losers’: Unis oppose success tax
The universities’ accord is yet to hit the desks of vice-chancellors, but it is already inflaming red-hot anger across the sector.
- Julie Hare
Foreign students are leaving Australia in droves after visa crackdown
Net migration is still up, but signs are strong that government policy is taking a toll on international students.
- Julie Hare
Unis cancelling full-fee international students
The Albanese government’s crackdown on visas has prompted some universities to cancel enrolment offers, particularly for students from India and Nepal.
- Julie Hare
Knocked-back students use appeals, asylum to stay
Slower processing times and higher rejection rates have experts concerned that appeal pathways could get flooded.
- Julie Hare
January
Student visa hopefuls knocked back at record levels
Applications to for student visas are still at record highs, but refusals are surging.
- Julie Hare
Call to lift ban on foreigners doing trade apprenticeships
Most international students are not allowed to undertake a trade apprenticeship in Australia. Changing that could help the worsening skills’ crisis.
- Updated
- Julie Hare
New visa age limit ‘biased against women, barrier to highly skilled’
Students and academics say that tightening access to work visas for overseas student graduates will discriminate against women and PhD candidates.
- Julie Hare
International student bubble bursts as visa crackdown bites
The government’s visa reform agenda appears to be having an impact on demand from international students even before most measures come into place.
- Julie Hare
December 2023
- Exclusive
- Education
Indian students given exemption to work in Australia
A free trade agreement has been given precedence over Clare O’Neil’s migration review, exacerbating a problem she was hoping to fix.
- Julie Hare
100,000 foreign ‘students’ won’t come or will go home under reforms
Over the next year, an estimated 100,000 ‘students’ will either not arrive under new migration rules, or will be pushed to return home.
- Julie Hare
‘Non-genuine’ foreign students to be weeded out
The student visa system will be overhauled with the focus on quality students and providers, but numbers won’t be capped.
- Julie Hare
- Opinion
- Opinion
Overseas student tax is a spiky idea that needs the boot
The universities accord went looking for big ideas that build on our reputation as a clever country. This is no time to be dumb.
- Merlin Crossley