All potential migrants will be deterred

The sweeping changes announced to Australia’s immigration policy and the DIAC’s decision to dump 20, 000 applications is being perceived as a major blow to Indian students - current and prospective. The long-anticipated immigration overhaul, many believe, comes in the wake of increasing allegations of racist attacks and New Delhi turning the heat on Australian political leaders to resolve issues.

Migration agents, who have been flooded with calls since the decision was announced, say the changes have no doubt dealt a blow to international students and prospective skilled migrants, notwithstanding their own businesses. Angry agents term the changes unfair to international students and blame Australian departments for their failure in protecting the interest of students. With the toughening of laws for students and prospective skilled migrants from overseas, they observe that in the long-run, Australia would face severe shortage of skilled professionals.

“This is a big blow for students and all stakeholders involved in the business of education,” said Amit Baijal, director of VisaInfo, a migration consultant in Sydney. “There has been a complete and utter failure on part of the education and immigration departments in monitoring the system for abuse. They have failed in their duty to protect international students’ interests”.

“The question is, why didn’t the government monitor the education industry five years ago? The legislation has been slack and the turnaround time to redress issues has been dismal,” said Baijal. He pointed out that with the bar being raised for English language requirements, increased skills’ assessment fees from AUD 300 to AUD 4550 and increased skills set processing time from 4 to 5 weeks to one and a half years – all factors would act as deterrents for migrants from all nationalities.

“Of course the impact on Indians would be more profound than other nationalities as the number of Indian students in vocational institutes is much higher than their counterparts in higher education. Vocational courses were seen as a springboard for migration and were marketed by offshore agents as a sort of fast track process for PR,” he noted, adding that the huge number of applications for cooks and hairdressers were bound to create an imbalance.

While agents do not see a direct link between the recent attacks and alteration in migration policies, they do not dismiss the timing of the roll out. “Indian applications were seeing a drastic decline in the past six months. This has been further aggravated by the new policy announcement. There is no correlation but the timing of the changes is definitely interesting,” said Baijal, adding that the uncertainty has led to a huge jump in calls from clients and students seeking clarifications.

“Being an international student at this time is an extremely scary idea as there are a number of agents onshore and offshore misleading students,” he said.

Manish Agarwal, director of Evisalaw Australia Pty Ltd, called the new policies ‘absolutely ridiculous in every sense’. “The scrapping of the MODL list is not fair to applicants whose skills are in demand in this country. The whole objective was to prioritise and award additional points for people with skills in immediate demand. At the end of the day, the fact remains that we live in a country which will always have skills shortage. To overcome this, either local population has to grow or skills must be obtained from overseas”.

“What will happen is that due to toughening of policies, not only will international students be effected, but also people who want to migrate from overseas. In the long run, it is a disadvantage for Australia. Right now, there is a backlog of applications. If the policies and criteria are not relaxed, it will have a strong impact on the economy,” he said adding that instead of taking a sympathetic view to the plight of Indians, the government had taken a tough stance.

“Instead of trying to rid the system of its problems, the drastic changes will discourage all potential migrants,” said Agarwal adding that the news had created panic and has increased queries from students.

Both agents noted that the changes would not come without an impact on the migration business. “It will be a huge financial loss for the industry. No one anticipated such dramatic changes to the immigration policies. There are pros and cons to this announcement. Students and migrants have sufficient notice to prepare mentally and digest the facts, while preparing for secondary options. But, the flip side is the wait is long and there too many speculations. A lot of mixed advice is being given to students, which is dangerous,” he said.

Baijal observed that migration agents would see their business slackening and may likely migrate out of the market, while educational agents would diversify and aggresively promote newer destinations like Canada.

Syed M Kabir, Principal Migration Consultant of Kangaroo Migration and Education Consultancy, opines that the government’s new policies will ‘shake-up’ the industry. “It is going to change the landscape of Australia’s migration programme. Students will virtually not be able to get PR. Having said that about 5 to 10 per cent are now eligible. The intention of the government is to make a complete overhaul of the industry and decouple education from migration. Of course, there is a political intent behind the announcement, albeit small”.

Kabir added that it could take six months to a year for people and the industry to recover from the massive changes that will be introduced and revealed only in April.

Shyamala Elango, head of Inner Universe, an educational agent based in Dubai, said, “Migration laws have always been subject to change and everybody who is considering migration is well aware of that. This is not pertinent just to Australia. In fact even with the 2-year course rule, we have always advised students to take the course that have their primary interest so they don’t find themselves short changed should laws change”.

“With the Gulf being a migrant society in itself, migration was not always the “only” criteria for selecting Australia. Australia has been able to garner interest primarily because of its emergence academically as a provider in the global scene with 6 of its Universities making it to the top 50 in the world. For a young country that was a reflection of its academic capabilities,” she said, adding, “However, there have been ripples and questions more by the recent attacks. Students insist on campus accommodation before they “sign up”. I don’t believe changes in migration policies will create a shift in direction of outward bound students to other regions. If anything with the economic downturn, the rising cost of the Australian dollar and cost of tuition fee would have a more farreaching impact.”