New norm to make studying in Australia tougher

Australia, December 31: The government of Australia has announced to a hike of 50 percent in the living costs for those applying for student visa from the new year.

This hike is surely going to affect a large number of Indian students wanting to come to Australia for study basis. As a result, there will be a drop of nearly 15-25 percent in the number of Indian students applying for student visa. 

It may be worth mentioning that out of the total 22,000 Indian students applying for Australian student visa every year, nearly 70 percent belong to the states of Punjab and Gujarat.

So, as per the new rules of the Australian government, foreign students now need to show at least $18,000 equivalent to Rs. 746,000 a year to support their living expenses in Australia. This is nearly $6,000 more as compared to the earlier living costs required to be shown by the foreign students applying for Australian student visa. 

Speaking about this latest announcement by the Australian government, an immigration consultant based in India stated that though the move of increasing the living costs for students is good as it will invite only genuine candidates to go ahead for pursuing education in Australia, however, there is no denying the fact that this will ultimately bring in a big decline in the number of Australian student visa seekers.

Earlier, the Australian government had introduced another move more than a year ago according to which only parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents and relatives could become the sponsors of those applying for student visa. The main aim of this move was to reduce the any chances of fraud. In the recent past, there had been increased incidents of people coming to Australia on student visas but ending up working as unskilled migrants. 

It may also be noted that the increased number of racial attacks on Indian students in Australia has already dampened the spirit of Indians willing to go for Australian student visa.