International students hit hard by move to cut working hours

Hospitality worker and international student Gautam Timalsina is about to have his working hours cut by half.

He works full-time at a hospitality venue in Melbourne's inner suburbs while studying for his degree.

Timalsina is one of thousands set to be affected by the federal government's move to bring back caps on the number of hours international students can work, starting July 1.

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The cap was temporarily removed in January last year as businesses struggled with COVID-induced labour shortages.

The Nepalese man is among 182,000 international students living in Melbourne.

"Basically it's almost going to be almost half of my pay gone," he told 9News.

"I am finally stable and when it's cut, it will be stressful. I have been paying for all my school fees myself. This will mean less savings and less money."

From Saturday, international students, with the exception of those working in aged care, will no longer be allowed to take unlimited shifts.

Instead, they will be capped at 48 hours a fortnight.

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Small Business Australia executive director Bill Lang slammed the move and said many industries were already suffering a skills shortage.

"Anything that reduces the ability of willing workers to work is a bad thing for Australia," he said.

"The first impact is more stress on the small business family who are having to work an unprecedented number of hours now.

"In some cases that's going to lead to a whole re-assessment as to whether they can stay in business."

Al Dente Enoteca restaurateur Andrea Vignali said international students were a key part of the kitchen.

"We will definitely need to hire more people and have someone who can cover the hours these people can't work anymore," he said.

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