Explainer: How Australia’s migration system is about to change

CANBERRA — Australia is moving to tighten several migration rules, including restricting family members accompanying some international students and reducing the number of working holiday-makers allowed to stay for a second or third year.

The proposed changes include:

• International students: Students and people on graduate visas would generally no longer be allowed to bring family members to Australia, with some exceptions, including PhD students.
• Working holiday-makers: The number allowed to stay for a second year would be cut to 45,000 from 57,000, while those eligible for a third year would fall to 5,000 from 31,000. A processing slowdown would also end for everyone except British citizens.
• Skilled workers: Migrants coming to work in construction, farming, fisheries, mining and teaching would be prioritized.
• Student visas: Foreign students would generally be allowed to extend their visas only when moving to a higher-level course, such as from a bachelor’s degree to a master’s degree.
• Visa overstayers: The government plans to detain people who overstay their visas. About 77,000 people are currently estimated to be in Australia after their visas expired, prompting the government to seek additional detention facilities, compliance officers and beds.
• Skilled migration: The points test used to select skilled migrants would be revised to treat construction-related qualifications as equivalent to university degrees.
• Migration agents: Authorities would receive expanded powers to punish and deregister migration agents who breach the rules.

READ: Skilled migrant women facing barriers in Australia

Why the changes?

The government wants to reduce population growth driven by migration from 292,100 to 245,000 in the year to July 2027 and to 225,000 annually thereafter.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke said migration was now tracking in line with the government’s targets, after population growth repeatedly exceeded Labor’s forecasts since it came to power in 2022.

The opposition Coalition has called for a lower annual migration intake of 170,000, saying it should be aligned with housing construction. One Nation has proposed a 130,000-person annual cap.

The government also says the changes are intended to address visa-hopping and people “rorting” or “gaming” the migration system.

What happens next?

Some of the proposed changes may not become law after negotiations between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor broke down in the week before Burke’s address.

READ: Filipino students among drivers of Australia’s record high migration 

Without parliamentary approval, the government cannot proceed with a planned crackdown on fraudulent asylum claims.

Burke, however, said negotiations with the Coalition remained ongoing and productive, and said “we have put nothing forward that is a wedge to them.” /dl