Source:  Department of Home Affairs (DHA) (2024) Student visas granted pivot table.

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Yes, there will be a proportion who are not genuine students who are visa hopping in order to work and stay in Australia.  But there will also be those who are genuine students, with experience and expertise that adds to Australia’s human and social capital and, thereby, growth and wellbeing. 

 

That is, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that international graduates of Australian programs of study make great migrants, both temporary and permanent.  It is important to avoid policies that deprive Australia of valuable global talent.  By definition, international graduates are skilled:  They have immersed themselves in Australian life, and many will have gained experience working here while studying.  They enhance the cultural diversity of workplaces and the nation.  And, through their linguistic and cultural diversity and networks, facilitate trade and other relations and linkages with regional and more far afield neighbours.

 

There are better and more targeted ways to tackle issues of non-genuine students and visa hopping.  Many of these are either already being pursued or are planned.  One is the good progress made on bringing down the time it takes to process applications for permanent migration, which had perversely encouraged international graduates to be creative when finding ways to remain onshore.  Another is the Migration Strategy undertaking to introduce a new Genuine Student Test.  A related third is the Strategy’s commitment to restrict onshore visa hopping by applying greater scrutiny to applicants for another student visa.  Done well, these measures should have the desired effect of culling out non-genuine students and minimising visa hopping, without the need to resort to a lower age limit that risks depriving Australia of valuable global talent.

 

2.  Faulty logic

 

The logic in arguing that because the upper age limit for permanent migration is 45, the limit for temporary graduate visas should be 35 is faulty on two grounds.

 

The first is that there is a gap of 10 years between 35 and 45.  Consider the following hypothetical scenario, which is feasible under current arrangements, where the temporary graduate visa age limit is 50:  An international student who completes her Bachelor degree at the age of 38, moves on to a temporary graduate visa.  This provides her the right over the next two years to pursue relevant work experience in Australia in her area of expertise.  As she nears the end of her two years, she applies to migrate permanently under a points-tested pathway, with her chances bolstered by her work experience.  At the age of 40 she is granted permanent residency in Australia. 

 

Under the proposed arrangements the same graduate would be ineligible for a temporary graduate visa.  Should she wish to remain onshore and gain relevant work experience to support her chances to migrate permanently, she would have to find more creative ways to prolong her stay.  Alternatively, she would have to leave Australia’s shores and seek work in her field at home or in a third country, prior to applying to migrate to Australia permanently as an offshore applicant.  Or she just might not bother at all.  My point is that there is large disconnect between the visa age limits.  If this was the only consideration, it would make sense to push the limit out by five or more years.

 

But it is not the only consideration.  The second faulty piece of logic is the implied assumption that the intent of all temporary graduate visa holders is to migrate permanently.  This is a huge pendulum swing from the equally perverse fallacy that all international students are genuine temporary migrants.  The truth lies somewhere in-between.  Some, like the lady in the hypothetical scenario considered above, will wish to migrate permanently, and that does not make her any less of a genuine student.  Others will wish to stay on to gain valuable work experience in Australia for the purposes of enhancing their employability once they return home or locate elsewhere.  It is possible that these graduates are well over the age of 35.  Yet that would not have any negative bearing on the contribution they make while they are here.  Indeed, their work and life experiences are more likely to constitute a positive.

 

3.  Deprives Australia of premium global talent

 

The proposal to lower the age limit for temporary graduate visa holders risks depriving Australia of at least three sources of premium global talent.

 

The first becomes apparent if you flick back up to the first figure.  The other insight of interest conveyed by this figure is the relatively large share of mature-aged student visa holders who are undertaking post-graduate research.  This is rarely a fast process, meaning that most will be older than 35 by the time they complete their studies and, therefore, ineligible to apply for temporary graduate visas under the proposed rule.  Forty percent of international students studying towards their PhDs at Group of Eight (Go8) universities are over the age of 35.  This is why the Go8 and the Council of Postgraduate Associations is calling for PhD students to be exempt from the proposed policy change.  There is some merit to their advocacy.  But it ignores the other sources of premium global talent.

 

Global talent is developed through education.  It is also developed through experience.  Not all follow a linear progression from study to work.  Indeed many might do this the opposite way around.  Or intersperse their studies with work in their fields.  Deakin academics, Ly Tran and Jill Blackmore, point out that in humanities and the social sciences, including in education and nursing, many graduates work for a period of time before commencing higher studies.  These people bring significant knowledge and experience to enrich the institutions they attend, their communities and make valuable contributions to their fields of expertise.  But this group will be disadvantaged from doing so under the proposed change.

 

The same Deakin academics also call out the impact on women.  In particular, mothers who may delay or return to studies once they have started their families.  The lower limit risks compromising the gender and ethnic diversity of Australian workplaces.

 

4.  Places Australia at a competitive disadvantage

 

The West has an on-again off again relationship with international students and graduates.  As Australia grappled with COVID they were told to “go home”.  As Australia opened its borders and sought to hasten the post-pandemic recovery, they were told “Australia is open for business” and to “come on down”.  As international students and graduates flooded back to our shores and to our competitors’ shores, governments (plural) have taken fright.  International students and graduates are being accused of all kinds of sins, including housing, congestion and even inflation.  I will spare you a lecture on the flaws in these accusations, but will point you towards the discussion below where I argue that this situation is more likely a blip than a sustained change.

 

Australia is not the only fickle nation.  This latest falling out of love with international students and graduates lies behind measures being considered and implemented in Australia and in competitor nations.  From July this year, the Migration Strategy will cull a year off the post graduate work rights of masters by coursework and PhD students, and remove the two years extension for occupations in shortage, introduced only last year.  Canada is also cutting graduate work rights to a three-year maximum, with 18-month extensions offered since 2021 now set to end.  This brings both countries’ work rights regimes roughly in line with arrangements in the United States and New Zealand.  Meanwhile, the United Kingdom is reviewing the automatic two-year post-study work visa it reintroduced.  These measures come on top of more restrictive measures targeting international students. 

 

But what our competitors are not doing is imposing or lowering an age limit on post study work rights.  There is no upper age limit in either New Zealand or the United Kingdom.  Nor are post-graduation visa options in the United States age-specific.  However, for the more mature-aged graduates their best options are either Optional Practical Training or an H-1B visa.  The former allows graduates to work in their field of study for up to 12 months after graduation, with a possible 24-month extension for STEM fields.  The latter is an employer sponsored visa for bachelor level and higher graduates that is not age-specific.  Canada does not have a strict age limit for obtaining a work permit post-graduation.  However, applicants between the ages of 18 and 35 are often preferred, especially for certain programs like International Experience Canada.  For those over 35, securing a work permit can be more challenging but not impossible.  It largely depends on the applicant’s skills, experience, and the labour needs in Canada.

 

Only Australia has an upper age limit and only Australia is planning to lower that limit.  The risk is that highly skilled students who are approaching or over the age of 35 will preference studying in competitor countries.  In the race for global talent this is a significant handicap.

 

5.  International student numbers have come down

 

The Migration Strategy was launched into a context where there was much media and political commentary claiming that international student numbers had ballooned to unsustainable levels.  Back then the latest data available was that student visas were being handed out each month in volumes never seen before.  While they turned a corner in December 2022, in mid-2023 volumes were still high by historical standards.

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What goes up will come down

Student visas granted over time, monthly