In 2024, Australia introduced several changes to its immigration rules affecting students. One significant update is the new financial capacity requirement, which mandates that from 10 May 2024, students and Student Guardian visa applicants must demonstrate financial capacity of $29,710 for an individual student. Additionally, the TOEFL iBT has been reinstated as a valid test for student visa purposes, although tests taken between 26 July 2023, and 4 May 2024, are not valid.
Another major change is the replacement of the Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirement with the new Genuine Student (GS) requirement, which includes a set of targeted questions to assess the genuineness of the student’s intent to study in Australia. The English language requirements for Student Visa and Temporary Graduate Visa applications have also been updated, effective from 23 March 2024.
For those seeking the Temporary Graduate visa, the length of post-study work visas will be reduced, but a new 4-year Skills in Demand visa will provide a clearer pathway to permanent residency for graduates who secure skilled jobs during their post-study work period. This change is slated to take effect from 1 July 2024. Moreover, the maximum eligible age for Temporary Graduate visa applicants will be lowered to 35 years, except for Masters (research) and doctoral degree (PhD) graduates, who will remain eligible up to 50 years of age.
The Australian government has also announced a realignment of the Temporary Graduate visa streams to levels of study, renaming the Graduate Work stream to the Post-Vocational Education Work stream and the Post-Study Work stream to the Post-Higher Education Work stream, with eligibility determined by the qualification level related to the applicant’s nominated occupation on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL).
These changes reflect Australia’s commitment to maintaining the integrity and quality of its international education programs while ensuring that students coming to Australia are genuine in their intentions and equipped to contribute to the country’s skilled workforce. For more detailed information on these changes, students are encouraged to visit the official Australian government websites. Read more here:
