Kirk Yan: Head of the Newstarsec Education & Migration Melbourne branch, MARA-registered migration agent in Australia, with several years of experience and in-depth research in interpreting migration policy and forecasting changes. Editor-in-chief of the Australia Migration Weekly, affectionately known by students as “K-Shen” (K-God).
What a roller-coaster of a week. Last Friday after hours, the MIA issued a notice informing members that the Department of Home Affairs had updated its 485 website to no longer recognise online study undertaken offshore on a student visa during COVID as counting towards the Australian Study Requirement for meeting work-visa or skilled-migration points. After a joint outcry from multiple parties, the Department has now confirmed that the change will not take effect, and the official website has been updated accordingly (Figure 1):
From 25 November 2023, the online-study requirement reverts to the pre-COVID settings. However, online study undertaken during the COVID concession period (from 1 February 2020 to 25 November 2023) will still count towards the Australian Study Requirement. (As a reminder, the previous concession required the student to hold a student visa while offshore, or at least to be within the period after lodging their student visa application.)
At the same time, the MIA has just issued a notice whose wording aligns exactly with the Department of Home Affairs’ statement (Figure 2). It also adds that, because TEQSA (the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency) required all students to return to in-person study by July 2023, this decision is not expected to disadvantage any student and provides a clear end date for the announcement issued by the previous government in November 2021.
Those who meet the requirements should go ahead and lodge, and anyone whose points have already been adjusted can change them back.
If you have any questions about Australian migration, feel free to add Kirk on WeChat for a consultation.
