The current structure of the student visa program
This article will discuss the new changes in the student visa framework and the introduction of new simplified student visa framework in mid-2016.
The Australian student visa framework is currently quite complex, providing for 8 visa subclasses, three Assessment Levels (AL) and the Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP) arrangements.
Prospective students have to apply for the student visa subclass applicable to their intended level of study. For example, if they intend to study at the Higher Education level, prospective students need to apply for subclass 573 student visa. The prospective student visa applicants are then assessed either under the Assessment Levels framework or under the Streamline Visa Processing arrangements. These frameworks primarily determine the level of financial capacity evidence, English level proficiency and academic background that the student visa applicant needs to provide with their application.
The AL framework has three Assessment Levels (ALs) with AL1 representing the lowest immigration risk and AL3 the highest. The higher the AL, the greater the amount of evidence the student visa applicant is required to demonstrate to support their claims to the grant of their student visa application.
According to the SVP framework, eligible student visa applicants – students who’s main course of study is Advanced Diploma, Bachelor degree, Masters, Doctoral degree or eligible exchange programme at a participating SVP education provider – are not assigned an AL. If a student is eligible for SVP, generally they will have requirements for financial capacity, English language proficiency and academic background, similar to the current AL1 student visa applicants, regardless of their country of origin.
New Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF)
On 16 June 2015, the Australian Government released the Future directions for streamlined visa processing report and announced the introduction of a new simplified student visa framework (SSVF) to support Australia’s education services sector.
It is intended the new framework to be implemented in mid-2016, subject to the regulatory change process.
The main changes under the new simplified student visa framework (SSVF) are:
- a reduction in the number of student visa subclasses from eight to two; and
- the introduction of a simplified single immigration risk framework for all international students.
These changes are intended to make the student visa process easier to navigate for the genuine student and create a leveled playing field for education providers.
The SSVF will replace the current existing streamlined visa processing and AL frameworks.
Under the SSVF, the combined immigration risk outcomes of the student’s education provider and country of citizenship will be used to guide the level of documentation relating to financial capacity and English language proficiency that the student would need to provide with their student visa application.
Additionally, students would no longer apply for a specific student visa subclass applicable to their level of study for example, subclass 573 for Higher Education. Rather, it is intended that there will be only one student visa subclass for which all prospective students will apply.
Students will be able to identify what documents will be required to provide with their visa application by entering their intended education provider’s name and country of citizenship in an online tool.
Generally, students enrolled at an education provider with the lowest immigration risk outcomes will have lower evidentiary requirements, regardless of their nationality. Students enrolled at an education provider with the highest immigration risk outcomes will have access to reduced evidentiary requirements if they are from a country with the lowest immigration risk.
The SSVF framework will apply only to applications lodged after mid-2016.
Source: www.border.gov.au
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