The Australian government has introduced a new visa regime for international students aspiring to study in Australia. Now students will have greater opportunity to work and enjoy greater, faster, and easier access to student visas in the land of Oz.

The revised visa regulations are intended to make Australia an attractive place to study and a preferred destination for international students who obtain their first subclass 573 (higher education sector) or 574 (postgraduate research sector) visa following the proposed Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirement. The new policy is proposed to commence from November 2011.

Now international graduates and postgraduates who have studied for at least two years in Australia will be able to remain in the country and work for two years after the completion of their course. Moreover, international postgraduate researchers will have three years post-study work rights while PhD graduates will have four years post-study work rights.

Thanks to the streamlined access to visas, students aspiring to pursue bachelor-level degree courses and above will now, have no problem being accepted by the Australian universities.  Regardless of the student’s country of origin, they will be treated as being in the lowest visa-risk category, Assessment Level (AL) 1. This means they will have easier access to student visas with faster processing times. The streamlined visa processing arrangements is expected to be implemented in the first half of 2012.

The government has also eased its stance on financial requirements––these earlier meant that students had to demonstrate they had enough money in the bank. Now it will be far less taxing for students who come from countries regarded as having high visa risk. These changes, which have streamlined visa access, will benefit students from many countries including China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

Experts in India are of the opinion that these changes in visa rules will really help Indian students looking forward to study in Australian universities.