Extra $1200 for visa student course jumpers

Foreign students looking to change their tertiary course will reportedly be slugged with a fee of $1200 as the government looks to close loopholes in the visa system amid an increasingly heated national debate about migration.

Assistant Citizenship Minister Julian Hill on Friday unveiled a raft of new changes while addressing the Migration Institute of Australia in a speech published online.

“Migration is always topical, but I can’t remember a time more so than now and largely not for good reasons,” Hill said, denying that Labor was “spooked” by One Nation’s rise in the polls.

“What passes for ‘debate’ since last I spoke to you has become increasingly unhinged from facts, untethered from reality, and uncivil to our fellow Australians, as loud voices scapegoat migrants for all manner of social and economic ills.”

Nonetheless, Hill said, the government was focused on tightening the existing system and closing pre-existing loopholes.

Among those was the practice of “course jumping”, when students on a visa supposedly seek to change their course in order to extend their stay in Australia.

From mid-2027, students wishing to change their education provider will need to apply for a new visa.

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The Australian Financial Review reported the cost of this would be about $1200, or half of the original visa application price of $2500 – already among the highest globally.

Until that new rule kicks in, a transition measure will ensure overseas non-school students will have to remain in their originally chosen course for 12 months, double the current requirement of six months.

Exemptions to visa limits will apply in cases of illness, course failure, or if the education provider collapses.

Hill also announced other measures restricting family entry on student visas, along with crackdowns on false migration agents and lawyers seeking to game the system.

“From today, students will only be allowed to bring dependent family members in limited circumstances, including for PhD students, foreign government or Australian government scholarship students, and those from ASEAN or Pacific Island nations,” he said.

Families already in Australia will be “grandfathered in”, Hill said.

He warned also of “ghost agents” – registered agents who let non-registered people provide migration advice in their name.

“Fake agents”, operators who are simply unregistered but offering migration advice, also face a crackdown, specifically by a dedicated task force from the Department of Home Affairs “working closely” with the Australian Border Force.

Registered agents will be prohibited from dealing with applications they know or can reasonably suspect to be without factual or legal basis.

“Of course, it is not just rogue agents who do the wrong thing,” Hill said.

“Some of the worst, sharpest practice I see in my electorate office and ministerial work is actually by lawyers.”

He alleged some lawyers were offering coaching on how to claim refugee status, such as by pretending to bisexuality.

“That’s not legal representation. It’s a misuse of the migration system for profit,” Hill said.

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He closed the speech by citing the need for trust as the most vital aspect of the migration system.

“Trust that the system is fair. Trust that migration continues to operate in the national interest,” he said.

“Trust that people seeking to exploit migrants will be identified and held accountable. And trust that governments, regulators and the profession are committed to the integrity of the system.”