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SSVF - Five things you need to know about Australia’s new student visa framework

19-Aug-2016

Australia’s new simplified student visa framework (SSVF) kicked into effect on 1 July 2016. Billed as a much-needed facelift for the Australian education sector, the framework aims to make applying for student visas feel less like jumping through circus hoops. It also envisions saving education providers a mountain of administrative paperwork. However, how ‘simple’ the framework actually is remains to be seen, as we explain below.

If you’re a potential student looking to further your education in Australia, here’s five things you need to know about the SSVF.

1. There are now only two visa subclasses…

Gone are the days when wanting to study in Australia meant selecting from one of many visas specific to your type of study. The SSVF has now reduced the number of student visas from eight to two:

• International students (and their family members) will apply for a single Student visa (subclass 500) regardless of their chosen course of study;
• Student guardians will apply for the new Student Guardian visa (subclass 590).

There are no restrictions on the duration of particular courses that the student must study to be accompanied by family members, including dependants who later join the student in Australia.

On the face of it, the reduction in the number of visas simplifies the application process – but it also makes assessing eligibility for a visa less straightforward than was previously the case. There will still presumably be different requirements and work rights for different types of study; only now these requirements are less explicit, having been subsumed into one visa category.

2. … and only one immigration risk framework.

By replacing both the current Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP) arrangements and Assessment Level (AL) Framework, the new SSVF puts in place a single immigration risk framework that applies to all international students.

Under the SSVF, each country and each registered education provider is allocated an immigration risk rating. Both of these immigration risk ratings are then combined to determine what level of financial and English requirements prospective students will have to meet. (Immigration risk is calculated based on visa refusal rates, rates of students overstaying their visa and visa cancellation rates.)

All education providers have access to the benefits of what are called “streamlined evidentiary requirements”. This means that student visa applicants will generally not have to provide evidence of their English proficiency and can satisfy the financial capacity requirement just by making a declaration. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) can still request further information if needed, however.

Education providers that receive the lowest immigration risk rating have streamlined evidentiary requirements for all countries, while education providers with the highest immigration risk rating only receive these benefits for students from the lowest immigration risk countries.

Country and provider immigration risk ratings will be updated twice a year, every March and September.

3. More people can now apply onshore.

Under the previous system, certain applicants were only allowed to apply from within Australia if they were renewing an existing student visa or were assessed as low-risk under the AL Framework.

But from 1 July 2016, all holders of a substantive visa (as long as they don’t fall into these categories) will be able to apply onshore for a student visa. This means, for instance, that those on a Working Holiday Visa, Graduate Temporary Subclass 485 Visa or a Partner Visa can apply without having to leave the country.

4. Applications are to be lodged online.

All students and student guardians will generally be required to lodge their visa application online by creating an account in ImmiAccount. This is a welcome change to the previous system, under which only a select few number of education agents could access fast-track applications online.

To find out what documentation they need to provide with their visa application based on their combined country provider immigration risk outcomes, students can use an online document checklist tool that can be found here.

5. But some things never change.

Despite all the changes, applicants still must meet all other core visa criteria, including the genuine temporary entrant requirement, health requirements and character requirements.

More information about the new SSVF can be found on the DIBP website.

Sources: DIBP and Comlaw