'A struggle every day': There's a hidden side to Australia's student visa debate

For almost nine years, Bashshar Khalid has been building a life in Australia.

He arrived as an international student in 2017, completed a three-year bachelor's degree in business and then a two-year master's degree before entering the workforce.

But graduating was only the beginning.

Khalid first moved onto a temporary graduate visa, known as a subclass 485, and recently secured a subclass 482 work visa after finding employment in sales.

He told SBS News that making the transition from international student to skilled worker was far from straightforward.

One of the biggest difficulties was convincing an employer to invest in someone whose ability to remain in Australia had an expiry date attached to it.

"We basically have to work twice as hard, or we just have to prove our skill set to our employers," he said.

At one point, Khalid's temporary graduate visa was approaching expiry while his employer-sponsored visa application was still being processed.

He moved onto a bridging visa while he waited for an outcome.

"Every day when you wake up, or every day you're going into the office to work, you're not sure whether the application will be approved or not ... It's basically a struggle every day."

Government's migration crackdown

Now, the federal government has announced another suite of changes aimed at tightening Australia's migration system and further reducing net overseas migration (NOM).

The changes include measures targeting so-called "visa hopping", restrictions on secondary applicants on most student visas and stronger measures to ensure people without valid visas leave Australia.

The government will also introduce a 'no further stay' condition on all visitor visas and crack down on migration agents it says knowingly support applications without merit.

Announcing the reforms on Thursday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government was targeting people who would "never" meet the requirements for permanent residency but continued moving through the migration system to extend their stay.

"They effectively jump from visa to visa, use the appeals process to be able to stay here as long as possible until it eventually becomes absurd to not just let them stay," he said.

Critics say the crackdown could limit legitimate study and work opportunities.

Khalid said he believes there should be a clearer distinction between people switching courses simply to stay in the country, and migrants legitimately progressing through study and skilled employment.

"We have contributed to the economy. We have paid our taxes. We have done everything right by the book," he said.

"There couldn't be one single hard and fast rule about everything.

"If they could genuinely prove that the change of career is more of a personal choice and not just for a visa hopping case, then I think they should be given a fair chance."

Former immigration department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi also supports reducing visa hopping but cautioned against applying restrictions too broadly.

"As a general rule, I think reducing visa hopping is a good idea," he said.

"The question will be how broadly those measures are applied, because if they're applied too broadly, there will be unintended consequences."

Rizvi pointed to businesses that bring workers into Australia on business visas when they urgently need their skills while waiting for a skilled temporary visa to be processed.

If those transitions are restricted while skilled visa processing times remain lengthy, he said, businesses could face difficulties.

'It would have definitely affected my decision'

For Khalid, the uncertainty of Australia's migration system has already made planning a career difficult.

Khalid said policy changes could mean migrants made significant decisions based on one set of rules, only to find the pathway had shifted.

"If my pathway was not as clear ... it would have been a major decision for me whether I should stay on in the country or leave the country," he said.

Had the pathway been more restrictive when he was studying, Khalid said it "would have definitely affected" his decision.

His recently granted 482 visa now provides a potential pathway towards permanent residency.

"After spending a good amount of time in this country, you sort of feel like it's your second home," he said.

What will the changes mean for students with families?

The government's reforms also restrict secondary applicants on most student visas, potentially affecting students seeking to have family members join them in Australia.

Muath Alqarni, a Saudi master's degree student at the University of Melbourne, told SBS News that he understood the government wanted greater control over migration involving international students' families but was concerned about broad restrictions.

"I recognise there is an issue with international students' families' immigration, and I understand that the federal government is trying to control it," he said.

"However, as an international student who used to live with his family, my situation is different."

Alqarni urged the government to examine the data and circumstances of different groups rather than applying broad measures.

"It's a lifetime chance for me to bring my family to Australia and spend a good time with them in Australia," he said.

Rizvi also raised concerns about students undertaking lengthy courses who may be affected by restrictions on bringing partners to Australia.

"If you're doing a four-year nursing degree or a five-year engineering degree or a six-year medicine degree and you're married, to be without your partner for four or six years is really, really difficult," he said.

He argued Australia risked losing some prospective students to competing destinations if they could not bring their partners.

Will the changes bring migration down?

The government says the reforms are designed to help bring NOM down to 245,000 this financial year and 225,000 in 2027-28.

Rizvi believes those forecasts will probably be achieved if the changes are combined with the high student visa refusal rates he says have been in place since November 2025.

International students have played a significant role in recent movements in NOM, he said.

"The biggest increase in the big surge in net migration in 2023 was students, and the biggest reduction since then has been students," Rizvi said.

Burke said migration also needed to slow sufficiently for housing supply to "catch up", but rejected the suggestion migration itself was responsible for Australia's housing shortage.

"The housing shortage we have is not caused by immigration," he said.

"But immigration needs to be part of the solution for the housing crisis."

This story was produced in collaboration with SBS Arabic

For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.