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    International students

    This Month

    Visa application fees are set to go sky-high for international students.

    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
    International students have started shifting their study preferences to other countries.

    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

    Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are sensitive to criticism about overseas arrivals.

    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
    Campus Living Villages group managing director John Schroder.

    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
    Castle Student Accommodation’s Stephen Scutts says there is a shortage of student housing due to a lack of land available for development.

    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
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    International students are having their visas rejected by a new automated system that some liken to RoboDebt.

    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 contributing a big chunk of what little economic growth was reported in 2023.

    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
    International students still want to flock to Australia but they are getting knocked back at record rates.

    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

    Expanding the number of places for undergraduate students could cost some universities dearly.

    ‘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
    Net foreign student arrivals are still rising, but many left the country late last year.

    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
    The high number of students being coached risks undermining the HSC system.

    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
    Approvals for post-study work visas and subsequent study visas are declining.

    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
    Overseas students are blocked from undertaking trade apprenticeships despite chronic skill shortages, particularly in construction.

    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
    A reduction in the age to 35 for access to a graduate visa will discriminate against women international students say.

    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
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    The migration bubble appears to have finally burst as numbers start to decrease.

    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

    Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil.

    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
    Reforms to visas and regulations seek to clamp down on dishonest students, colleges and agents.

    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
    ‘None-genuine’ international students will be weeded out of Australia as a result of federal Labor’s migration shake-up.

    ‘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
    A tax on international students would be a policy own-goal.

    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

    The Australian Financial Review Magazine

    BOSS Financial Review

    Setting yourself a goal to lose weight may not work.

    Life & Leisure

    There are only two things to do at Tasting Australia’s Wine! Wine! Party! Party! event.

    Rich List

    Casella Family Brands managing director John Casella at the group’s winery at Yenda in NSW.