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A COVID-era visa that allowed more than 20,000 international students to work an unlimited amount of hours is being phased out, the federal government has said.
- The subclass 408 visa will be closed to all new applicants from Saturday
- Existing visa holders will be able to apply for short-term extensions, before the program is completely scrapped in February
- The government says the conditions that warranted this special visa are no longer relevant
Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles announced that the Pandemic Event visa (subclass 408) would be closed to all new applicants from September 2.
Existing visa holders will remain lawful until their current visa expires, with the ability to extend it for another six months at a cost of $405.
But from February 2024, the visa will be closed to all applicants as it will be completely scrapped.
The program was established in 2020 to support international students who were trapped in Australia during the pandemic, and to fill labour shortages due to international border closures.
According to the latest figures from Home Affairs, more than 17,000 students were granted a 408 visa in 2022, compared to around 3,000 students in 2021.
"The Pandemic Event visa was an important part of Australia's visa system during the pandemic. Many people on temporary visas helped Australia during this period," Mr Giles said in a statement.
"We're providing an opportunity for people who hold a Pandemic Event visa to explore another visa option, or plan to leave Australia."
The government said people who were not eligible for another visa would have to leave the country.
"This will provide certainty to our visa system now that the circumstances that drove the operation of the [Pandemic Event] visa no longer exist," a statement said.
With the scrapping of this program, the government has also reintroduced a cap on the number of hours international students can work.
Since July 1, they have been restricted to 48 hours per fortnight — that is eight hours more than the pre-2020 cap.
The government has also put an end to work exemptions for Working Holiday Visa holders.
"These measures combined place downward pressure on Net Overseas Migration, which continues to rebound post-pandemic," the statement said.
International student advocates have previously said that bringing back the cap on working hours would lead to more financial stress for a group already under the pressure of overseas loans and rising cost of living.
A report released by the Grattan Institute earlier this year found that one in six migrant workers were paid less than the minimum wage.
Economist Brendan Coates said although international students were vulnerable to underpayment, the working cap was necessary to maintaining the integrity of the visa system.
He said, without one, the student visa would become a "de facto low-skill work visa".
Mr Coates has suggested moving from a fortnightly cap to an annual cap, which he said would provide students with "much more flexibility".