Want to study abroad? It’s becoming harder and harder.

A number of nations are changing their visa rules.

Australia has doubled its student visa fees and cut its intake of international students, while the UK has changed its rules for families of students.

New Zealand too has doubled its student visa fees, Poland has tightened its visa rules, while Canada has changed its policies – leaving 70,000 international students facing the threat of deportation.

But what do we know about the changes? How is it making studying abroad more difficult and expensive?

Let’s take a closer look:

Australia

Australia has announced that it will cut its intake of international students by 20,000.

This came after the country witnessed a record number of enrollments this year.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the country would cap international student intake levels at 270,000 for 2025.

Public universities would be able to enrol around 145,000 new international students – at par with 2023 levels – and another 95,000 students in vocational education and training (VET) courses.

The Australian government wants to bring the number of students down to pre-pandemic levels.

“The fact is, for some of our big universities, they have a lot more students in their universities this year than last year,” Clare said.

“It’s in the vocational education sector, those private providers where the reductions will be largest.

“But I make no apology for making sure that we’re returning migration levels to pre pandemic levels, and this is part of that.”

Australia in July more than doubled its visa fee for international students.

The fee, which was $454, is now at $1085.

The government also shut loopholes allowing international students to extend their stay.

This came after the number of students on subsequent visas spiked by 30 per cent to cross 150,000 in 2022-2023.

In May, Australia increased the amount of savings students needed to show to enter the country.

Students now need $20,153 (Rs 16.91 lakh) in savings – up from $16,622 (Rs 13.94 lakh) earlier.

This was the second such hike in under a year.

That’s not all.

Australia’s government has come under increasing pressure to ease migration – which surged 60 per cent in 2023 to hit a record high of 548,800 people.

India remains the second-largest source country for international student enrollments.

Data shared by the Indian High Commission in Canberra last year says over 1.22 lakh Indian students registered in Australian colleges between January and September of 2023.

However, the number of Indian student visas fell by 48 per cent between December 2022 and December 2023.

Till March, one in five students had their visas denied this year, as per The Guardian.

“Authorities rejected 21 per cent of visa applications lodged from overseas in the second half of last year, with refusal rates reaching 37 per cent for applications from Pakistan, 39 per cent from India and 52 per cent from Nepal,” a Times Higher Education report stated in February.

Many others have had to wait a longer for their visas.

Some have even imposing blanket bans on Indian students, according to the newspaper.

“My major concern is the impact upon our bilateral relations with countries which are singled out when government and media seek to highlight these integrity issues by country,” ex-Australian high commissioner to India Barry O’Farrell told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“There are many economic, strategic and social benefits to Australia and the source countries of overseas students wanting to study in Australia. The practice should be encouraged,” O’Farrell added.

The UK

The UK too has implemented a number of rule changes for student visas this year.

International students since January have been barred from bringing their families over – unless they are studying in a research programme or on a government-funded scholarship.

Indian study visa holders had the second-most number of sponsored dependants (42,381) – after Nigerians (66,796) – in the year ending March 2023.

“There were 138,532 sponsored study visa grants to Indian nationals in year ending March 2023, an increase of 53,429 (+63 per cent) compared to year ending March 2022 and the largest number of study visas granted to any nationality. Grants to study for Indian nationals have risen markedly since year ending March 2019 and are now around seven times higher,” the UK Home Office said.

“Our world-leading universities rightly attract some of the brightest students from around the world to the UK. But we have seen a surge in the number of dependants being brought by students, which is contributing to unsustainable levels of migration,” then UK Minister for Legal Migration and the Border Tom Pursglove said at the time.

The previous Conservative government too had vowed to tamp down on immigration – both legal and illegal.

“We are completely committed to seeing a decisive cut in migration. The action implemented today to restrict bringing dependants on the student visa route allows us to better protect our public services while supporting the economy by allowing the students who contribute the most to keep coming here. This is part of a series of measures which together will see 300,000 fewer people coming to the UK compared to last year,” he said.

As per Business Standard, students in degree-level courses have also been disallowed from changing their student visa to a work visa until they have finished their studies.

However, PhD students are allowed to change to a sponsored work route two years after the beginning of their course.

The UK also commissioned a review of the graduate immigration route for international students to “prevent abuse, protect the integrity and quality of UK higher education, and ensure it works in the best interests of the UK.”

“In the year ending June 2024, Indian nationals represented the largest group of students granted leave to remain on the Graduate Route (67,529), representing almost half (46 per cent) of grants of Graduate Route extensions to main applicants,’ the data revealed.

The Home Office data for the past year until June 2024 shows a 23 per cent fall in Indian students coming to the UK for higher studies, even as they continue to represent the largest group granted leave to remain on the Graduate Route visa which allows foreign students to work in Britain for two years after their degree.

“There were 110,006 sponsored study visa grants to main applicants who were Indian nationals in the year ending June 2024 (25 per cent of the total), 32,687 fewer than the previous year,” the Home Office statistics revealed.

The UK in 2023 had issued around 500,000 sponsored study visas – nearly a third of which went to Indian students.

Indian students also got 142,848 sponsored study visas in 2023 – a 54 per cent increase over 2022.

“Most of the increase in foreign students between 2019 and 2023 were from Indian and Nigerian nationals, but numbers for these nationalities have fallen in the latest year (by 23 per cent and 46 per cent respectively),” it noted.

Though the graduate review concluded in May with the recommendation that the route remain, some experts say the move itself stopped many Indian students from applying.

“It is critical that we ensure that the chaos and uncertainty that the review of the Graduate Route had led to is now fully put to rest. NISAU has engaged with millions of students in India to spread the message that the UK remains a warm and welcoming destination for Indian students,” National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK chair Sanam Arora told PTI.

Anuj Gupta, CEO of Youngrads, an online student recruitment platform, told Business Standard, “Indian students are now hesitant to apply to UK universities for a Master’s degree due to stricter visa regulations implemented earlier this year. These regulations particularly affect their ability to sponsor family dependents, spouses, or children, as well as preventing students from switching to work visas until they finish their studies.”

New Zealand

New Zealand followed in Australia’s footsteps by announcing a massive hike on student visa fees from October 1, 2024.

As per Economic Times, the student visa, which used to cost $233 (Rs 19,500), now costs $466 (Rs 39,000).

The outlet quoted a press release by Education New Zealand (ENZ) as saying that 2023 saw 69,000 more students enrol in the country than 2022.

This was a 67 per cent rise over 2022.

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford was quoted as saying that the changes were made to “create a more sustainable immigration system.”

“The changes we’re making are shifting the cost to those benefitting from the system. We’re ensuring it is self-funding and more efficient,” Stanford added.

Poland

Poland, meanwhile, has tightened its rules for international students.

Polish daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna published a piece which revealed some foreign nationals were using their student visas to work in the Schengen area.

Poland’s foreign minister Radosław Sikorski said the country will no longer give student visas to those without high school diplomas.

“A student visa grants the right to work for one year, which led to numerous cases where individuals obtained visas and never attended the university that facilitated their entry,” Sikorski told TVN 24.

Canada

In Canada, the Justin Trudeau government has announced it will cap study permits and reduce permanent residency nominations, as per India Today.

That figure is estimated to be 35 per cent lower than it was in 2023, as per data from the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

The government claims it has made the changes as the influx of students has put pressure on the country’s healthcare, housing and other services.

The government has also stopped foreign students from applying for a post-graduation work permit (PGWP) at the border from June 21.

This is key for international students looking for employment and permanent residency.

The PGWP witnessed a massive surge in 2023 compared to 2018.

Experts say the changes – which have led to protests around the country – have left around 70,000 international students facing risk of deportation.

“I spent six years taking risks to come to Canada. I studied, worked, paid taxes, and earned enough Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points, but the government has taken advantage of us,” Mehakdeep Singh, a former international student facing deportation, told City News Toronto.