Claire Field, a former regulator of the vocational training sector, warned in 2022 that a large number of South Asian students were arriving in Australia in “response to the unlimited work rights now available to those on Australian student visas”, enrolling in “lower quality and cheaper vocational colleges” to live and work.
The surge in arrivals corresponded with the former Morrison Government’s decision to lift the cap on the number of hours overseas students could work while studying and to grant Vocational Education and Training (VET) graduates a two-year Temporary Graduate visa.
Subsequently, the Albanese Government announced at the 2022 Jobs & Skills Summit that it would uncap work hours for an additional year and extend post-study work rights for two years for recent graduates with specified degrees:
