Sick of waiting for a visa: overseas PhD students give up on Australia

Hamed Pourazad had a scholarship for postgraduate study in Australia but gave up after waiting three years for a student visa that never arrived (Supplied).jpg

Source: Supplied

Hundreds of overseas PhD students planning to study in areas critical to Australia’s future economy are waiting as long as three years to have their visas approved. Those impacted include people from countries such as Iran, China, India and Pakistan. Academics say they're frustrated by the wait times, with fully funded research on hold and students with grants stuck in limbo.


When Hamed Pourazad received an offer of a scholarship from an Australian university to study for a PhD he was elated.

But after waiting for three years for a student visa that joy turned to despair.

The 35-year-old has given up.

He's now doing his thesis in the United Kingdom.

It's understood at least 50 Iranian students have been waiting for visas for more than a year.

S-B-S has also spoken to offshore Chinese students in the same situation.

Academics who've approved P-h-D students still stuck overseas are also frustrated.

Clement Cannone is a computer science lecturer at the University of Sydney.

He says Australia risks losing crucial research and talent.

More details are in the audio...

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Sick of waiting for a visa: overseas PhD students give up on Australia | SBS Gujarati