Australia is refusing study visas to Indian students who have passed their Class XII from schools affiliated to the Punjab School Education Board.
“The education and examinations conducted through the PSEB are not listed as equivalent to an Australian Grade 12 qualification under the Australian Education International-National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition Guidelines.”
“I am not satisfied that your current educational background is that you have completed the equivalent of an Australian Grade 12 qualification,” an officer of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection wrote in the visa refusal letter.
The applicant from the state of Punjab had applied for a Vocational education and training visa under subclass 572.
The visa officer who is posted at the Australian High Commission, New Delhi, has also stated several other reasons such as the limited English language ability of the applicant and his economic circumstances for refusing his visa application.
Source: Supplied
Sukant Trivedi, an overseas education consultant said he has not received any updated guidelines from the Australian government.
“In the past, student visas applications were rejected for various reason, however, this is something entirely news. In the last one week alone, nearly hundred visa applications of students from Punjab have been rejected,” he said.
Nearly 25,000 students arrive in Australia from Punjab every year. Punjab education minister Daljit Singh Cheema has said the state government will take up the matter with the foreign and human resources ministries.
“PSEB is one of the best boards in the country. Till date, thousands of students who have passed from PSEB are studying in different parts of the world and excelling in their respective fields,” he told The Times of India.
