Amid visa fraud concerns, Australian universities ban students from certain Indian states

An increase in fraudulent visa applications has prompted two other Australian institutions to prohibit recruiting students from certain Indian states, according to a media report.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Federation University in Victoria and Western Sydney University in New South Wales wrote to education agents last week instructing them not to recruit students from Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh, as well as the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The news comes as visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of more “Australian and Indian students living and studying in each other’s countries, and bringing those experiences home.”

In addition, the two countries inked a migration and mobility collaboration agreement today to boost student, graduate, researcher, and commercial exchanges.

“The university has observed a significant increase in the proportion of visa applications being refused from some Indian regions by the Department of Home Affairs,” the Federation University’s letter to agents said.

“We hoped this would prove to be a short-term issue (but) it is now clear there is a trend emerging,” the letter, published in The Herald, read.

Australian universities, including Victoria University, Edith Cowan University, Torrens University, and Southern Cross University, imposed a ban or restriction on students from certain Indian states last month in response to an increase in fraudulent applications seeking to work rather than study in the country.

“A large number of Indian students who commenced study in 2022 intakes have not remained enrolled, resulting in a significantly high attrition rate,” the Western Sydney University told agents in a message sent on May 8.

The university designated Punjab, Gujarat, and Haryana as the locations with the highest risk of attrition.

“Due to the urgency of this matter, the university has decided to pause recruitment from these regions in India, effective immediately,” the university message said, adding that recruitment from all other regions in India will continue as usual.

The Western Sydney University said the ban would be in place for at least two months – May and June 2023.

It further said that additional measures would be taken “to address the issue of non-genuine students enrolling with the university from these regions, including changes to application screening, stricter admissions conditions and increases to commencement fees”.

According to the study, one in every four Indian applications is now declared “fraudulent” or “non-genuine” by the Department of Home Affairs.

According to reports, Australia will enrol the most Indian students ever, exceeding the previous high of 75,000 in 2019.

Last Thursday, the Department of Home Affairs told a federal parliamentary investigation that the rejection rate for Indian applicants is 24.3 per cent, the highest since 2012.

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