Student Visa grants for Chinese, Brazilian and Malaysian students increase in 2014-15

In a previous post on September 16, which can be found here, I discussed the upcoming changes to the Australian Student Visa Framework, as well as the increase in the number of student visas which have been cancelled in the year ending June 2015. This blog post will discuss some of other the trends that appear to have emerged during the 2014-15 financial year in relation to Australian student visa applications.

According to data recently released by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection for the 2014-15 financial year, at the end of June 2015 there were just under 375,000 student visa holders in Australia, which is the highest number for the month of June since 2012. In the month of June there were more than 35,000 student visa applications for the first time since March 2011. The Peoples Republic of China, India, and Brazil were the 3 countries with the highest number of applicants, with 23,960, 10,527, and 8,628 applications lodged by citizens from each country respectively. This reflects a change from 2013-14, with Brazil replacing Vietnam as the country with the third-highest number of applicants.

All of this appears to be encouraging news for both international students considering coming to Australia for study, and also education institutions in Australia, who provide a wide variety of courses for students from abroad. However, in the June quarter the grant rate for student visas fell to 90.9%, arguably due to the Department’s crackdown on non-genuine students, evidenced both in the number of refused student visa applications and the number of student visa cancellations. It is not all bad news however, with the number of applications granted rising by 9% for Chinese students when compared to 2013-14, 7.6% for Brazilian students, and 8.6% for Malaysian students.

Besides presenting an interesting picture of the current state of the Australian student visa market, these statistics underscore the supreme importance of receiving accurate and timely legal advice when preparing a student visa application, and our team of immigration lawyers and registered migration agents can provide you with tailor-made advice to ensure that you make the strongest visa application possible. For any questions or queries please contact our team to organise a consultation.