Foreign students in Australia warned to abide by visa rules

More than 300 foreign students in Australia have been found breaching the conditions of their visa over the past three years and have been penalised by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

The students on Australian student visas were found breaching Australian immigration laws and were put into detention centres in Sydney and Melbourne before being deported.

The majority of the detainees were from Malaysia, India, China, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, who either overstayed their visas, did not attend their classes, failed their courses, or worked illegally.

As of next week, legislative changes to the student visa will come into effect. As a result of a review into the student visa programme, the Australian Government has made legislative changes to the Assessment Levels (ALs), which student visa applications are assessed against.

The changes will mean the ALs in 52 countries will be amended. All applications for a student visa from nationals in these countries will be subject to these amendments after 01 September. All applications which are already being processed before this date will not be affected by the changes.