Egyptian visa holders urged to respect Australian laws

The Foreign Ministry has urged Egyptian students studying in Australia to respect the conditions of their visa so that future visa hopefuls have an easier route to Australian migration.

The Ministry has made the request in light of the crackdown in the Australian student visa system, in which the risk assessment levels of countries were evaluated and adjusted according to the general level of compliance with Australian visa laws. As a result of these September changes, the risk assessment level for Egyptians wanting to study in Australia increased, meaning all Egyptian applications now need to provide the highest level of evidence supporting their application for a student visa.

Assistant Minister for Consular Affair Mustapha Guindy warned Egyptians studying in Australia if they did not comply with Australian visa law they would make it tougher for future Egyptians to obtain Australian visas. This included a warning to not overstay their visa to avoid arrest and deportation.

According to the Egyptian Daily News, Australia has the third largest number of international students in the English-speaking world, and an income from overseas students of $12.5 billion is injected into the Australian economy every year.

In related news, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship is also being urged to increase its focus on training and education so that more graduates and overseas students would be ready to work in areas of key shortages, such as the construction, mining and nursing industries. This stems from experts' opinions that more people who emigrate to Australia and overseas students are choosing vocations that will get them easier "points" towards their skilled migration application, such as hairdressing, hospitality management, accounting, and computing.

The Australian Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people apply for an Australia visa.

Article by Jessica Bird, Australian Visa Bureau.