Aus tightens immigration rules; 20,000 applicants affected

Natasha Chaku
Melbourne, Feb 8 (PTI) Australia Monday tightened its
immigration rules rejecting over 20,000 migrant applicants
from foreign students, including Indians, seeking permanent
residency through hairdressing, cookery and other courses.
The fresh system has set a new list of occupations in
demand and has favoured skilled workers including nurses,
general medical practitioners, mechanical engineers and
teachers instead of groups such as cooks and hairdressers.
The tough immigration rules are aimed at curbing the
activities of unscrupulous agents who promise students taking
up courses here with automatic entitlement to permanent
residency. "It does not and it will not," Immigration Minister
Chris Evans said on such claims.
"The current points test puts an overseas student with
a short-term vocational qualification gained in Australia
ahead of a Harvard-educated environmental scientist," Evans
said in a statement.
Evans said the reforms, which follow a sudden rise in
Australia's Indian population and a spate of attacks on
students from the country, would give priority to migrants
with higher skills.
"We had tens of thousands of students studying cookery
and accounting and hairdressing because that was on the list,
those subjects were on the list and that got them through to
permanent residency," he told ABC radio.
Australia has over one lakh Indian students, about 19
per cent of total foreign enrolments. PTI NC
MYR