O’Neil cancels COVID visa to stamp out rorting
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has put an end to the so-called COVID visa that has been abused by dishonest migration agents and students as a backdoor to the jobs market.
An estimated 120,000 people have accessed the visa, which allowed them to work unlimited hours for 12 months.
The 408 visa will be cancelled from midnight on Friday with the short turnaround designed to prevent a surge in fresh applications.
Clare O’Neil has cancelled a pandemic-era visa at the centre of widespread rorting. Rhett Wyman
As The Australian Financial Review revealed in July, one in six international students are thought to have jumped from their study visa to a 408 – or COVID visa – over the past year as increasing numbers from India, the Philippines and Nepal game the system to access full-time work.
At the end of May, there were 105,300 people on 408 visas, up from 17,000 less than a year ago.
Experts have argued there is no reason for the visa to exist, and it was being widely exploited by dishonest agents and students to stay in the country to access work.
Immigration expert Abul Rizvi said the 408 visa had been abused for many months, and he questioned why it had taken so long for the government to act.
“For people already on the visa – and the number is likely to be in excess of 120,000 – there will be time to sort out their affairs and either depart or apply for another visa,” Mr Rizvi said.
He expected a surge in applications for the aged care certificate III which will give students access to residency if they stay with the same employer for two years.
Mr Rizvi said the government would also need to try to minimise the number of people who don’t leave but have no other visa option.
“We don’t know how many have not got enough money to get a student visa and can’t get a skilled job to secure a skilled visa,” Mr Rizvi said.
“If it’s a large number, the government may have to face another surge in asylum applications. It desperately needs a strategy to prevent the asylum rate from accelerating further, otherwise it will become a big political issue.”
International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood said the visa was “another Morrison government legacy problem” that was overdue to be dealt with.
“Coming on top of other reforms announced last week, education providers will now be able to focus on recruiting and retaining genuine students,” he said.
Over the past week, the government has moved to shut down several fronts and loopholes that have been widely abused by agents and students.
Last Friday, Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor gained agreement from all states and territories to expand the powers of the vocational education regulator to ban people from running or owning colleges who are considered of dubious background.
Later that day, Ms O’Neil and Education Minister Jason Clare announced changes to visa conditions that included international students needing to prove they had at least $24,500 in savings and being stopped from enrolling in a second course in the first six months.
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