student visa

The Australian Government has announced that from 1 October 2023, the amount of funds student visa applicants will need to meet the financial capacity requirement will increase.
International education is our fourth largest export industry and maintaining the quality and integrity of this sector is critical for the Australian economy and our relationships in our region.
The Australian Government has closed a loophole which allows education providers to shift international students who have been in Australia for less than six months from genuine study to an arrangement designed to facilitate access to work in Australia.
There has been a sharp uptake in the use of the concurrent function in 2023 – in the first half of 2023, 17,000 concurrent enrolments were created, compared to approximately 10,500 for the same period in 2019 and 2022 combined.
Recent investigations have identified this misuse of ‘concurrent enrolment’ as an integrity issue for the international sector.
This change takes effect immediately.
The Government will also increase the amount of savings international students will need in order to get a student visa. This requirement has not been indexed since 2019 and needs to increase to reflect higher living expenses. From October 1 2023, international students will need to show evidence of $24,505 in savings, which is a 17% increase on current levels. This increase accounts for indexation since 2019.
This change will ensure students coming to Australia to study can afford to support themselves and will not face increased risk of exploitation due to an urgent need for employment.
The Government will apply additional scrutiny to high-risk cohorts and ask for additional documents to prevent fraud in applications.