Student Visa Annual Report 2007-2008

Objective

This component aims to develop and administer visa arrangements that will assist growth of the education and tourism industries through the entry to Australia of genuine full-time students.

Description

The student visa program contains a range of visa categories that broadly reflect the different education sectors. Students must study in a course registered on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students.

The Student Guardian (subclass 580) visa is available for individuals travelling to care for minors studying in Australia. The AusAID and Defence Sector (subclass 576) visa also exists for students sponsored by those Australian Government agencies.

Student applications are assessed according to the immigration risk demonstrated by each education sector and country. The risk level is determined on the basis of factors such as fraud and visa non-compliance. It is represented by the assessment level that applies to each sector and country. Assessment Level 1 represents the lowest immigration risk, while Assessment Level 5 represents the highest risk. A lower assessment level means fewer requirements to be granted a student visa.

Table 25 and Figure 11 show the top ten countries for student visa grants in 2007–08. Table 26 shows total student visas by subclass.

Performance

Key indicators of the effectiveness of the student visa program include:

• high visa approval rates
• processing times that meet service standards
• high levels of compliance with visa requirements
• improvements to client service, including an increase in the use of eVisa.

Table 23: Total student visa grants (onshore and offshore)

Visa statistics	2006–07	2007–08	Percentage change
Offshore grants	167 129	198 417	18.72%
Onshore grants1	61 463	79 767	29.78%
Total	228 592	278 184	21.69%

1. This figure does not include Permission to Work visa grants or Student Guardian visa grants.

Table 24: Total student visas granted by citizenship for the top ten countries 2006–07

Citizenship	Visas
People’s Republic of China	38 466
India	34 146
Republic of Korea	18 557
United States of America	9 973
Malaysia	9 496
Thailand	9 479
Japan	8 876
Brazil	8 220
Indonesia	7 534
Hong Kong	7 724
Total	152 471
Total visa grants	228 592

Table 25: Total student visas granted by citizenship for the top ten countries 2007–08

Citizenship	Visas
People’s Republic of China	49 763
India	47 639
Republic of Korea	19 350
Thailand	11 576
Brazil	11 096
Malaysia	10 661
Nepal	10 247
United States of America	9 969
Indonesia	8 246
Japan	7 669
Total	186 216
Total visa grants	278 184

Figure 11: Student visa grants—top ten countries

Table 26: Total student visas granted by subclass