Reports of Australian student visa exploitation are making rounds. It is being alleged that people are exploiting Australian student visa by enrolling in university programs with the sole motive to just get into Australia. Studying is not their motive when they apply for these visas. As per sources, once these students arrive in the country, they dropout of university courses shortly after. Later these ‘students’ often transfer into much cheaper vocational education and training (VET) courses, which are ultimately easier and comparatively less demanding.
These people view the student visa only as a mere ticket to get entry into the country, some disappear completely from the education system afterwards, however still remaining in the country. These people then do not remain engaged with their study program which allegedly was their primary reason to enter the country.
This growing trend has become a larger concern as this ‘backdoor immigration’ where students are seen exploiting these visa opportunities as a mere pathway to cross the borders and make their way to Australia’s labor market or other routes such as long-term residency. A related study shows how this ‘course-hoping’ where international students leave universities to access bridging visas and work rights while they actively pursue new study visas, is on the rise. This pattern is labelled as ‘systematic exploitation’ of the migration system.
It is noteworthy to understand how visa policies and education pathways intersect while some individuals use this system primarily for migration and not education, taking its advantage. Experts believe that this behavior pattern leaves a distasteful impact and implications for the immigration integrity, work rights, housing and services. This calls for a demand for tighter compliance and stricter vigil.
As per the information, form January-October 2025, Australia had about 833,041 international students studying on student visas, of that total, about 17% were from India meaning roughly 140,000 Indian students were studying in Australia during that period. This makes India the second-largest source country for international students in Australia (after China) and usually accounts for a significant portion of new student visa grants.
