Australia ends special visa type for international students. Australia’s government has abolished the Covid-era visa, which allowed foreign students to work for an unlimited period of time.
The visa that allowed more than 20,000 overseas students to work an unlimited number of hours is being phased out, the federal government has announced.
The Pandemic Event visa (subclass 408) will be unavailable to all new applications beginning on Saturday, September 2, according to announcements from Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.
It is important to note that current visa holders will be permitted to stay in the country up until the expiration of their current visa, with the option to extend it for an additional six months for $405; starting in February 2024, however, the visa will be closed to all new applications.
Also read: UK Student Visa: All details
In order to help overseas students who were stranded in Australia due to the epidemic, a special category of visa was introduced in 2020.
As Australia ends special visa type for international students, due to the closure of the borders at the time, the visa also assisted Australia in filling labour shortages.
According to the most recent Home Affairs statistics, 408 visas were granted to more than 17,000 students in 2022. Only over 3,000 students received such visas in 2021.
“The Pandemic Event visa was an important part of Australia’s visa system during the pandemic. Many people on temporary visas helped Australia during this period,” Minister Andrew Giles said in a statement.
“We’re providing an opportunity for people who hold a Pandemic Event visa to explore another visa option, or plan to leave Australia,” he said.
The administration has announced that anyone who were ineligible for another visa would have to leave the country, which is another upsetting development for the visa holders.
“This will provide certainty to our visa system now that the circumstances that drove the operation of the [Pandemic Event] visa no longer exist,” a statement said.
The authorities have reinstated a cap on the number of hours that international students can work in light of the cancellation of the Covid-era visa.
Since July 1, employers must limit employees to 48 hours of labour per fortnight, and the government has stopped granting work exemptions to those on Working Holiday Visas.
“These measures combined place downward pressure on Net Overseas Migration, which continues to rebound post-pandemic,” the statement said.
On the other side, pro-student activists have opposed the proposal and claimed that students who might work later hours are under pressure from loans and the rising cost of living.
