The new visa changes that Australia has made are pushing international nursing students away, with the country risking to deepen its healthcare workers shortages.

As soon as Australia changed its visa processing rules, the number of students enrolling in Australian universities started to decrease.

The visa changes have especially affected the number of students from the Philippines, which is one of the largest groups of foreign students in Australia, VisaGuide.World reports.

As Times Higher Education explains, the Philippines is among the 12 top sources of international higher education students to Australia, and at the same time, it is among the four top sources of nurses.

However, the figures for this year are expected to change as Australia’s Department of Home Affairs decided last month to downgrade the Philippines’ immigration risk to level three and give low priority to the processing of visa applications filed by Filipino higher education students.

In addition, students from the Philippines must also provide evidence of having sufficient funds and language skills to study in Australian universities.

Less Than 500 Filipino Students Have Applied for Visas in Q1 2024

While the new rules were introduced to reduce immigration risks, data from the Department of Home Affairs indicate that the changes are discouraging students from the Philippines from enrolling in the country’s universities.

According to Times Higher Education, Filipino students no longer want to risk their travel plans in a country that is likely to reject the visa application.

Data show that in the first three months of this year, less than 500 Flipino students applied for visas to pursue their studies at Australian universities, with March seeing the lowest number of granted visas to this nationality in the last six years.

The high number of Filipino students who have chosen Australia as their higher education destination has positively affected Australia’s workforce, specifically the nursing workforce, over the years.

This is because after finishing their studies, a high number of students chose to stay in the country and work as nurses.

However, now that the number of students is dropping, Australia’s healthcare system is set to register a deep shortage of nurses.

Australia Introduced Tougher Rules for All Foreign Students in March

Earlier in March, Australia decided to start applying stricter rules to all foreign students applying for a visa to study in the country.

The decision of the country to tighten the rules was taken following increased migration rates, which was believed to be driven by the high number of international students that reach Australia every year.

Since March 23, all international students wanting to pursue their studies are subject to strengthened English proficiency. The government warned that it will be able to suspend higher education institutions that fail to meet the rules.

Australia has also decided to prevent students from applying for another type of visa while they are in the country.