AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

Indian Students do not overstay their Student Visas: Statistics Show

Monday, 1 September 2008

Statistics show that Indian students, who represent a large proportion of international students in Australia, rarely breach student visa rules.

According to statistics, only 16 out of the 63,500 Indian students enrolled in Australian educational institutions in the past 3 years have breached the conditions of their student visas.

"The number speaks for itself. Indian students have a high visa compliance rate and they are a very important part of the Australia's $12.5 billion education export industry" said an official from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

"As many as 47,639 student visas were granted to Indian nationals during 2007-08 and 5,772 went on to get permanent residence visas," the official said.

These findings come as Immigration Minister Chris Evans announced changes in the way that the government will deal with migrants who breach their visa conditions.

Mr Evans announced that the use of detention centres will be restricted to a last resort, and mandatory detention would only be used for people who pose a risk to the community or who have refused to comply with their visa conditions.

In the last 3 years up to March 2008 299 overseas students have been placed in detention centres for up to 51 days for violations of their visa conditions including, working more than the maximum 20 hours a week allowed under the student visa, deferring their courses, failing to gain satisfactory academic results, and overstaying their visas.

For international students thinking about studying in Australia, the new policies will mean that simple mistakes or oversights that result in a breach of visa conditions may not be dealt with as strictly as before.

This is great news for students and helps to make the Australian student visa program a very attractive possibility for students wanting to study overseas.

If you are interested in Visas to Australia, contact Migration Expert for information and advice on which visa is best suited to you. You can also try our visa eligibility assessment to see if you are eligible to apply for a visa to Australia.