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)

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