Australia, once considered the country of first choice for higher education, is becoming impossible for students coming to study for higher education. Apart from the very well-off students, it has become very difficult to get a visa for higher education studies in Australia even for middle-class students.

If we look at the latest statistics of the Australian government, it is seen that the number of Nepali students who want to come to Australia for studies has decreased sharply. Even if we look at the data of the time before and after the time of Covid, the number of people getting visas has decreased a lot.

On the one hand, the immigration policy that the government keeps changing from time to time and the additional rights given to educational providers for student visas have made it almost impossible for ordinary students to get an Australian visa. Due to this, compared to the previous financial year, there has been a massive decrease in the number of students applying for visas from Nepal by the end of this financial year.

Recently, Nepali students have also been affected due to various new rules imposed by the Australian government on international students. The number of students applying for studies has decreased by more than 50 percent in the period of 4 months of 2024 after the government started to strictly check the documents required to come for studies. 

Before Covid, almost 90 percent of Nepali applicants were getting Australian visa, but this number decreased to 67 percent last year. Nepali students are disgusted with Australia after they spend around 200,000 rupees when applying, but they do not get visas.

The process of getting student visas applied from Nepal has been incredibly low since the last financial year. In the fiscal year 022/023, 47 thousand 300 applied for visas from Nepal, 40 thousand 700 were successful in getting student visas, and in the fiscal year 23, 24, out of about 42 thousand visa applicants, only 19 thousand were successful in getting visas. After the rapid increase in the rate of visa refusal, even student consultants working in this field have started suggesting not to apply in Australia. 

Australia is considered one of the best countries in the world for international students. Among the number of foreign students for higher education, Australia has the third largest number in the world, while more than a dozen universities here are considered the best in the world.  If we look at the updated data of the Department of Education, there are 8,24,900 international students studying there. There are 63 thousand 972 Nepali students in Australia. After China and India, Nepalis are among the international students who study in Australia.  There are only 40,665 Nepali students in Sydney. 

According to the data of the Education Department, 8,200 people applied for visas from Nepal in the 4 months of the financial year 023/024, while the number has decreased to only 3,600 in the same period of this financial year. Most of those who applied to study in Australia got visas. According to businessmen working in this field, there has been no significant decrease in the number of people who have applied for visas for studying in Australia in recent years due to the fact that they are financially strong and have complete documents.

Sydney-based lawyer Sanjeev Pandey, who has knowledge in the immigration field, said that the government is changing the rules with the aim of giving visas only to students who come only for studies, and its effect has been seen on Nepali students. The government has announced to reduce the number of students in addition to tightening visas. On the other hand, the number of Nepalese students has decreased due to the fact that the universities here do not easily provide the Confirmation of Enrollment (CoE) required for visa application.

'Looking at the current situation, this has had a greater impact on the student visas of those who want to come to study from Nepal (Afsor) than on the students (Afsor) who are in Australia,' Pandey told Kantipur, 'Even if the visa is refused to the Afsor students, they will fight the case in the relevant authorities here. Because they have rights, this problem has not been seen immediately.'' . He sees the possibility that some Nepali students who are in Ansor will have to return to Nepal if they are not able to fulfill the revised rules after the start of next year. He said that in recent times, Australia has encouraged only the educational institutions that are in assessment level one to study here and the number of Nepali students has decreased because those educational institutions strictly look at the documents for admission. 

Australia has implemented the Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF) to streamline the student visa system. The main purpose of which is for students who want to come only for study  Encouragement for visa. In addition, the Australian government has recently classified the educational institutions here into different levels. The government has classified educational institutions in level one, two and three based on various facts such as visa refusal and cancellation rate, overstaying in Australia, becoming illegal, security visa application etc. 

It is easy for students who come to study in educational institutions in level one to get a visa, but it is very difficult to get admission in those educational institutions. In this classification, the Australian National University, Monas, Deacon, Macquarie, University of Adelaide, RMIT, University of Sydney, etc. are among the best universities in the world. The number of applications has decreased significantly because most of the Nepali students are unable to submit the necessary documents to study in educational institutions where they are at assessment level one.