The recent boom in student migration numbers is being attributed not only to the lower Australian dollar and better working rights via the post-study sc485 visa but also to the streamlined visa processing system (SVP). However the SVP is beginning to look like a convenient backdoor into Australia for some who enter Australia easily on the SVP but then change courses to cheaper non-SVP providers soon after. 

RMAs are monitored closely and scrutinised for indiscretions. What about education agents and SVP approved instituitions? The emerging trend of 'course-hopping' among students begs the question: what steps, if any, are being taking by education agents and SVP approved institutions to discourage course-hopping and how exactly are these education agents and providers being monitored?

Over the last year the department of immigration has issued some 1400 warning letters to students who entered Australia on the SVP system but had since left the SVP-approved institutions before completing their course, reports The Australian. According to the report 503 students received notices of DIBPs intention to cancel their visas with 103 visas actually being subsequently cancelled.

The report notes that “there was increasing evidence that students were entering the country by enrolling in a government-approved university or college under what is known as streamlined visa processing, then jumping ship to a cheap private college to finish their qualification at a fraction of the cost while ¬remaining eligible for post-study work rights.”

The streamlined visa processing arrangements was recently extended to eligible advanced diploma level students. It was previously the domain of universities but now vocational and education training institutes assessed by DIPB to be ‘low- risk providers’ have also been included.

Given this and the potential further increase in student numbers, it remains unclear how exactly education agents and SVP approved institutions are managing the SVP privileges or how DIBP is monitoring them.

In  a statement earlier this year, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Michaelia Cash expressed concerns that a perception exists within the international student community that it is acceptable student behaviour to change or downgrade courses from a streamlined visa processing eligible to a non-SVP eligible provider soon after their arrival in Australia.

It looks like DIBP has taken it upon itself to deal with students potentially lured here on false promises. It remains unknown what questions were asked of the institutions who enrolled the 1400 students in the first place.

International students contributed $15.74 billion to the Australian economy in the past year, the highest figure since the industry peaked in 2010.

Immigration Department figures show that the new boom is being driven primarily by strong demand from China, from where demand is up 30 per cent on the previous year. But a 47.9 per cent increase in visas approved for Indian students and 49.8 per cent rise for ¬Pakistani students need to be watched closely, experts say.

Nationally, there were 387,800 student visa holders at the end of September.