How Australia could solve the immigration crisis once and for all – and the loophole that is still letting many in

A top economist has urged the government to ‘drop the charade and recognize that international education is an immigration fraud’ as he outlines simple steps to reduce the number of foreign students.

Macrobusiness chief economist Leith van Onselen pointed out that Indian nationals have led the increase in temporary migration to Australia in recent years, with more than 300,000 people holding temporary visas in September last year – the most of any foreign nation.

Although that same figure fell to 282,000 in November, it still represents a 52 percent increase over 2019 levels.

Within that number, there are 105,000 on student visas and 75,000 on graduate visas – all of which are exacerbating Australia’s deepening housing and rental crisis.

Mr van Onselen argued that for the majority of these students ‘staying in Australia is the goal’.

This is supported by a recent India Today article which stated that prospective Indian students are more attracted to the residency pathway than the quality of study on offer in Australia.

“Indian students now prefer countries with easier job and permanent residency requirements,” Gaurav Batra, founder and CEO of Infinite Group, told the publication.

And a large number of these students use university places as a back door to the job market, through a loophole that allows them to abandon their courses at real universities and enroll instead at a cheaper private one college.

Many of these “colleges” are merely storefronts for students to work and are known as “ghost colleges” and “visa factories.”

For example, one university said that almost half of its 1,200 Indian students would not show up or move institutions by 2023, the reported AFR.

Mr Van Onselen called on the Albanian government to tackle this problem by focusing on a drastically ‘smaller pool of excellent (real) students’.

He called on policymakers to introduce strict English-language entrance exams, reduce the number of hours students were allowed to work and “allow only top students to receive a graduation visa.”

The economist also called for the introduction of a levy on international students for universities so that “Australians get a financial return from trading.”

“Universities should also be obliged to offer on-campus housing to international students, in proportion to the number of enrollments, to reduce pressure on the private rental market,” Van Onselen writes.

“Unfortunately, our governments have chosen quantity over quality and trashed admissions and education standards.”

As of June 2023, there were almost 850,000 people of Indian descent living in Australia – more than double the number a decade earlier.

Those born in India (846,000) made up the second largest group, with the 2023 population surpassing the previous peak of 754,000 in 2022.

Macrobusiness chief economist Leith van Onselen pointed out that Indian nationals have led the surge in temporary migration to Australia in recent years, with more than 300,000 people on temporary visas in September last year (stock image)

After Britain, the Indian-born population is now the second largest migrant community Down Under.

Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a migration pact in 2023, allowing Indian graduates from Australian universities holding student visas to work and progress for up to eight years without visa sponsorship.

Meanwhile, a program known as MATES aims to make it easier for young professionals and graduates from India to work in Australia in specialist areas where their skills are in high demand.

The program gives Indian university graduates and aspiring professionals the opportunity to live and work in Australia for up to two years, with 3,000 places available.

In addition to their attempt to focus on more skilled workers, the Labor government attempted to introduce an international student visa cap by reducing new enrollments to 270,000 by 2025.

However, it was rejected by the Coalition, who argued it did not go far enough, and also by the Greens, who argued that foreign students were not responsible for the housing crisis.

Instead, the Labor government has tried to suppress international student numbers by imposing a ‘go slow’ approach to visa applications.

Immigration officials have been instructed to process student visa applications on a priority basis until individual education providers reach a ‘priority threshold’.

This threshold has been set by the government and is 80 percent of the ceiling they had tried to implement.

Once this threshold is reached, student visas are processed at a slower level.

The government has also been given more powers to stop high-risk education providers from recruiting international students who plan to use their student visas to stay in the country as low-skilled workers.

Known as ‘ghost schools’ and ‘visa factories’, these providers can be given warning notices and six months to improve their practices.