Student Visa Framework

Australian Government to Implement New Student Visa Framework

Students who are willing to study in Australia can benefit from a new simplified student visa framework from mid 2016.  With the introduction of this framework, streamlined visa processing (SVP) will be replaced.

 According to the streamlined visa processing, students fall into one of the three assessments levels based on their country origin and education sector into which they are planning to study.  The assessment level 1 lowest immigration risk, on the other hand, assessment level 3 is on the highest risk level.  The higher the assessment level, the greater amount of evidence will be required to support your student visa application.  In order to be eligible for streamlined visa processing, students must receive a confirmation of Enrolment for higher education or advanced diploma.

 According to the new simplified student visa framework, the current streamlined visa processing arrangements and assessment level framework will be replaced.  It will reduce the number of student visa subclasses from eight to two, rather than three assessment levels used currently.

Key Changes under SSVF

 The key changes, which are going to take place this year, are mentioned as below:-

  • Reduction in the number of student visa subclasses from eight to two
  • Introduction of simplified single immigration risk framework for all international students

Reasons of Change in SVF

 The student visa framework is quite complex encompassing eight visa subclasses, streamlined visa processing arrangements and assessment level framework.  At present, students need to apply for the student visa subclass which is applicable to their intended level of study.  The prospective student visa applicants are assessed under the assessment level framework or streamlines visa processing arrangements.  These frameworks are used for determining the level of evidence of financial capacity.  Students are required to provide evidences for their financial capacity, English language capacity and academic background along with their student visa application.  Under the assessment level, there are three assessment levels, where AL1 represents the lowest immigration risk and AL3 represents the highest.  The higher the AL, the greater amount of evidences is required to support their claims for the grant of student visa.

Student Application Process under SSVF

Under the SVP, the main course of studies are- advanced diploma, bachelor degree, masters, doctoral degree or eligible exchange programme.  There are various requirements to be met in order to apply under SVP, which are- financial capacity, English language capacity, academic background regardless of the origin of the country.

Under the SSVF, the various requirements such as student education provider and country of citizenship are used to guide the level of documentation. Students are no longer required to apply for a specific student visa subclass rather it is intended that there will be only one student visa subclass.

Students will be able to require identifying what documents they are required to provide with their visa application by entering their intended education course. Students with lower immigration risk outcomes will have evidentiary requirements regardless of their nationality.

Why Apply Through West Highlander?

West Highlander is a professionally managed immigration and study abroad consultancy based in Chandigarh, providing services to students aspiring to study overseas. The key personal and team member of this study abroad consultancy is a licensed Immigration Advisor licensed by Immigration Advisor Authority New Zealand, Registered migration agent (MARA Agent) with office of MARA (OMARA) Australia, Canada course for Education Agents Graduate (CGC00099), U S Course Graduate (USCG00008) , member of AAERI (Association of Australian Education Representatives in India) and many more.