‘Inexplicable’: Australian student visa refusals at record high

Australian student visa applications continue to be denied at unprecedented levels, underlining that there may little damage left to be wreaked by its latest international education policy changes.

Approvals for visas to earn degrees were at the lowest August rate on record, according to the latest statistics from a 21-year dataset maintained by the Department of Home Affairs. A host of significant source markets – including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria and the Philippines – posted their lowest-ever August grant rates, with Colombia, India and Sri Lanka at near-record lows.

The number of higher education visas granted to offshore applicants was the lowest August figure since 2010, apart from in 2021 when Australia’s borders were closed, and little over half the tally of August last year. Visa issuances plummeted among all top markets – particularly India, Nepal and Bangladesh, which were down by 66 per cent, 89 per cent and 93 per cent, respectively, compared with the corresponding month last year.

The statistics emerged after the federal government announced plans to prevent most students from obtaining “secondary” visas for their dependants. The new figures show that the nationalities most inclined to bring family members with them – Bangladeshis, Bhutanis and Nepalis – are finding it close to impossible to secure student visas anyway.

The August success rates for higher education visa applications lodged offshore were 34 per cent for Bhutanis, 24 per cent for Bangladeshis and 13 per cent for Nepalis.

The treatment of these countries means that secondary higher education visas are already in steep decline. Just 943 were issued last month to applicants both within Australia and overseas. It was the lowest August figure since 2010, and almost two-thirds less than a year ago.

Tony Burke, the immigration minister, said refusal rates were rising because checks showed that applicants lacked the financial resources to bankroll their studies. He said that Australia had a “problem” with excessive migration and that the government was “solving it in a way that doesn’t undermine [our] decency…as a country”.

“What people want is to know that we are taking control,” Burke told the National Press Club. The government has not changed the “planning level” that governs allocations of places for international students at each university and college, he pointed out. “We are giving the scope for the universities and the educational institutions to be able to run their businesses.”

But sector leaders say the allocations are well beyond their reach because of soaring visa rejections. Western Sydney University “can’t get anywhere near” its quota, according to its vice-chancellor, George Williams. He told the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Summit that he had been allocated 4,000 places this year but would be “lucky” to reach 2,300.

The federal opposition said the government had prevented institutions from achieving their quotas through “inexplicable and unreviewable” visa refusals. “These disproportionately high visa refusal rates are not attributable to any differences in the demographics of the 2026 cohort when compared with earlier years,” Liberal Party MPs Paul Scarr and Matt O’Sullivan claimed in an addendum to a Senate committee report on higher education legislation.

“This is not a transparent and honest approach to government administration. The evidence indicates that the government has told higher education providers that they may bring in a certain number of international students to Australia, pocketed the visa fees, and turned those students away.”

Demand for higher education visas has declined from many major source markets, the statistics show. Compared with the previous August, applications were down by 20 per cent from China, 64 per cent from India, 76 per cent from Nepal, 83 per cent from Bangladesh and 36 per cent across all source countries.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com