AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

DIAC Announces Changes to Student Visa Cancellations The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has recently made an announcement on the removal of automatic and mandatory student visa cancellations from 13 April 2013. A discretionary cancellation will be used instead. As stated in the announcement, the changes address recommendations 24 and 25 of the Strategic Review of the Student Visa Program 2011 which was conducted by the Hon Michael Knight AO. All student visa holders are required to abide by the conditions that apply to their visas. If not, they may face having their visas cancelled. Currently, the Australian government use automatic and mandatory visa cancellation processes when any student visa holder fails to abide by certain visa conditions. Automatic cancellation occurs when a student visa holder is reported by their education provider for not maintaining satisfactory course progress or class attendance. Mandatory cancellation primarily occurs when a student breaches visa conditions relating to work restrictions. This includes working for more than 40 hours per fortnight or working before their study commences. From 13 April 2013, these two visa cancellation processes will be replaced by a discretionary one. Discretionary cancellation involves an immigration officer examining a report and taking the individual circumstances of the breach into account when making a decision on whether or not to cancel the visa. Under the changes, education providers will no longer be required to issue students a section 20 notice. However, they will be required to report students who breach course progress or attendance requirements to DIAC and must still advise the student that they intend to report the visa condition breach. By giving immigration officers discretion in cancelling visas for reported breaches of course progress or attendance requirements, the changes are expected to provide fairer outcomes for student visa holders. "This allows the department to distinguish, for example, between a student visa holder who never genuinely intended to study in Australia, and one who may be struggling with particular unit choices and could benefit from a change in course or education provider," DIAC stated. If you are interested in Australian visas, 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.