Assessment levels reduced for Philippine student visa applicants

Philippine student visa applicants have recently joined students from 22 other countries who can apply for their initial student visa online using the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) eVisa facility.

The eVisa facility is available to those which require only assessment level one.

In its announcement, DIAC said the improved compliance by international students studying in Australia has prompted the department to ease student visa assessment levels. The other countries mentioned by DIAC that are now enjoying the reduced assessment levels in one or more education sectors are Brazil, Botswana, the Republic of Korea, South Africa and Thailand.

The assessment level changes are made effective as from last 1 September.

‘Assessment levels are an objective, evidence-based method used by the department to determine student visa requirements based on immigration risk,’ according to a DIAC spokesman.

‘While the majority of the assessment level moves are favourable, to maintain the integrity of the student visa program the department will raise the assessment levels for nine countries, in one or more education sectors. These changes are occurring in response to data that indicates a trend of non-compliance in these cohorts over a sustained period.

‘This is all part of the department’s regular analysis of the visa compliance of international students from every country studying in each education sector in Australia. This is used to determine how likely it is that prospective students will comply with their visa conditions or seek to use the student visa for purposes other than study.’

The immigration risk of a cohort is based on the immigration compliance performance of students from a particular country over previous financial years, across each education sector.

The objective, evidence-based measures of immigration risk used to determine assessment levels include the fraudulent documentation rate, the visa cancellation rate, the unlawful rate, applications for residence – excluding residence on the basis of skill – the refusal rate and applications for protection visas.

DIAC also consults international education industry peak bodies and key government agencies to take into account their views and other subjective matters before deciding to change assessment levels.

‘Where applicants present a lower immigration risk, the department streamlines visa requirements for these applicants by reducing their assessment level,’ the spokesman said. ‘This reduces the evidence that applicants must demonstrate to be granted a student visa.

‘Where applicants present a higher immigration risk, the department requires additional evidence to be provided for applicants to demonstrate they are genuine students.’

While these changes will assist the department to combat the increasing immigration risk of these cohorts, genuine applicants have nothing to fear from these changes.

‘It simply means applicants affected by these changes will need to submit a higher level of evidence of their English language ability, academic qualifications and their financial capacity to support themselves during their studies in Australia,’ the spokesman said.

‘A robust student visa regime in which immigration risks are identified and addressed supports the integrity of our immigration system and the sustainable growth and reputation of Australia’s international education industry,’ he added.

In 2007-08, DIAC granted 278,000 visas to international students under the student visa program – an increase of 22 per cent on 2006-07.

Further details of the assessment level changes can be found on the DIAC website at www.immi.gov.au/students/index.htm #

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Short URL: http://www.thefilipinoaustralian.com/news/?p=140

Posted by TFA News on Sep 14 2008. Filed under Employment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry