MELBOURNE: Foreign students will be eligible for work visas lasting two to four years after they graduate from an Australian university under immigration rules to be introduced by the Australian government next year.
Visa holders will need “competent English” and health insurance, and must pass health, character and security requirements, The Australian newspaper reports.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the expansion of the Skilled Graduate visa scheme would “help to enhance the competitiveness” of Australia’s A$18- billion (RM57.5-billion) inbound student industry.
It would potentially allow all 220,000 foreign university students in Australia to work in any job once they graduate.
The existing system is restricted to graduates who have studied for a skilled occupation — including the trades, medicine, engineering, architecture, accounting and teaching — who may work for up to 18 months.
Other international students must leave Australia within a month of graduation, the newspaper said.
But from next year, visas will be granted to all graduates, regardless of their field of study.
And the 18-month time limit will be stretched to two years for graduates with a bachelor’s degree, three years for a master’s degree and four years for a doctorate.
“These arrangements are not linked to skilled migration, so applicants for this visa would not be required to nominate an occupation on the skilled occupation list or undertake a skills assessment,” a spokeswoman for Bowen told the newspaper.
“The government will reserve the capacity to modify arrangements in future according to economic and employment circumstances.”
Under the existing scheme, work visas were issued to 24,359 students in the nine months to March — an 85 per cent surge in the space of a year. — Bernama