Is it still worth choosing to study in Australia? Chaos with the new directive

With the implementation of the new Directive 111, the government surprised us on December 20 by announcing how the visa process will be moving forward. This directive replaces the previous Directive 107, which we had discussed several times and had been operating under in recent months. Directive 111 applies to new student visa applications that will be registered outside Australia, as well as those that are pending processing. However, it does not apply to students applying from within Australia.

Directive 111 has been designed to maintain oversight of education providers, regulate international student quotas, and slow down the processing of student visas when these quotas are nearing their limits. However, this directive functions as a measure to enforce the limits set for the arrival of international students in Australia. It has been designed to allow the government to bypass the will of the people. Although the Australian parliament did not pass this law, the directive is in effect, being applied directly, indicating that the minister has the power to make decisions without parliament’s intervention. In fact, it appears that the Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, avoided taking direct responsibility for this measure, as the directive was signed by his assistant, Julian Hill. This is particularly controversial, as we are talking about one of the most contentious directives in recent history, and it was signed by the Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. All of this suggests that the government is seeking “plausible deniability” in case the situation becomes problematic.

What is even more concerning is that the entire Labor Party showed complacency during the week when they adopted this “backdoor” approach to govern Australia. The Minister for Energy, Chris Bowen, exemplified this strange behavior, pointing out that “the government tried to legislate a more sensible approach,” and that the idea to slow down the student visa process emerged as a response to political opposition, which blocked the legislation that truly limited the number of students. Instead of going through parliament and taking the proper approach, they decided to take a less sensible route. In fact, Directive 111 is seen as a less sensible approach to international education in Australia. This news quickly spread to other countries and was negatively highlighted by international media. In India, for example, the focus was on the potential negative consequences for their students, who would be most impacted by the changes. Japan focused on the government’s efforts to bypass parliament, while Singapore emphasized the alternative legal solutions to keep the quotas within the limits. Some Australian newspapers have even called this measure illegal.

The new Directive 111 establishes two processing pathways:

• High priority (Priority #1): Allows case officers to process applications up to 80% of the allocated quotas for each education provider. For example, if an institution has 100 places assigned for the year, once 20 student visas are granted, the process automatically switches to slow mode.
• Standard priority (Priority #2): In this mode, case officers are not allowed to grant more visas than the allocated quotas. This means there are only two possibilities: the applications that are still pending will either enter a “no more waiting” state, and the remaining places will be assigned, or the applications will be denied.

Additionally, a Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) test will be implemented, which will serve as a tool to deny visas. It’s important to remember that the GTE can be used to reject the visa of any applicant.

Will international students be willing to take the risk of having their applications delayed and eventually rejected? It’s important to note that a rejected Australian visa could affect visa applications in other countries, raising the question of why take the risk and choose Australia. Another question arises: will the government refund the money to students whose applications enter the slow processing pathway? How will applicants know they are in the slow processing line and have to wait until next year? These are crucial questions that led to this legislation not passing initially. As opposition leader Peter Dutton said, “it’s a dog’s breakfast”.

There are some exceptions to this process. There are very specific education providers, such as those operated by the government (TAFE), where enrolled students will never have to wait. Other exemptions include students who are minors, exchange students, students studying only English, students in pilot training courses, research postgraduate students, students in foreign affairs and defense sponsored by the Australian government, Pacific and Timor-Leste students, and students enrolled in transnational education agreements, all of whom will be exempt from waiting lists.