Thai students spared from Australia's ban on bringing family members
Thai students will not be affected by Australia's latest visa restrictions banning most international students from bringing family members with them, Australian authorities have confirmed, as Canberra seeks to deepen cooperation with Thailand in trade, migration and regional security.
Australian officials have announced that Thai students will not be subject to new migration restrictions imposed by Canberra. Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Matt Thistlethwaite made the announcement while visiting Thailand on Sept. 23. Thailand is among several ASEAN and Pacific countries exempted from the restrictions, according to the Bangkok Post.
Thistlethwaite stated that Thai students would be free to bring their family members to Australia to study at universities and technical colleges. He expressed Australia's strong desire to foster the growing relationship between the two nations, noting that Thailand is the third-largest Thai diaspora of any country in the world.
Meanwhile, Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke introduced new measures to tighten rules for international students. These include limiting accompanying family members for most student and post-study work visa holders, cracking down on visa hopping by tightening rules on switching courses and visa types, applying No Further Stay conditions to visitor visas, and prioritizing visa applications for skilled workers in industries with labor shortages. These measures aim to bring net overseas migration down from about 290,000 to 225,000 by 2027-28.
Some exemptions from the new restrictions include ASEAN countries and Pacific island nations, as well as certain groups of students like PhD candidates. Vietnamese students and passport holders are subject to these exemptions. The new restrictions come amid a surge in Australia's migration intake, largely driven by international students and temporary skilled workers, following the country's reopening of borders in February 2022 after two years of Covid-19 restrictions.
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