The Department of Home Affairs is struggling to keep up with a massive rise in visa applications from Colombian asylum seekers. Dr Abul Rizvi takes a look at the reasons why this is occurring.
A PECULIAR ASPECT of the booming asylum seeker backlog is the steady rise in asylum applications from Colombian nationals who are now firmly in the top five source nations in the monthly primary asylum seeker reports. They are also now showing up at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). How could that have happened?
Australia gets very few visitors from Colombia. We do not have a work and holiday visa agreement with Colombia and are not negotiating one. Very few arrive initially via the skilled temporary entry category. The only major source for these asylum applications would be students.
Offshore student visa applications by Colombian nationals were rising steadily before COVID from around 4,000 in 2013-14 to 9,000 in 2018-19. This exploded after COVID as the Coalition Government put in place policy settings such as fee-free applications and unlimited work rights making student visas highly attractive. Education agents and private colleges jumped at the opportunity to make money.
In 2021-22, there were 10,088 offshore student applications from Colombian nationals and a record 22,985 in 2022-23. This fell back to 12,092 in 2023-24 as the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) ramped up refusal rates for Colombian offshore student visa applications from consistently well below 5% to now around 60%. Consequently, offshore student visa applications from Colombian nationals continue to fall dramatically.
That would explain the strong complaints from English language colleges and education agents that specialise in the Colombian caseload.
Over 95% of Colombian students initially come to undertake short English courses. That suggests the stock of Colombian students in Australia should not be increasing rapidly as many would be leaving Australia after finishing their courses. But that is not the case.
The stock of Colombian students in Australia has increased from around 4,000 at end December 2011 to 18,000 at end March 2020. That fell back during COVID to 11,000 in early 2022 and then boomed to 27,000 in mid-2023. That appears to have again fallen back to around 19,500 in mid-2024.
But that figure hides a massive increase in Colombian nationals in the bridging visa backlog from 2,300 in mid-2023 to 16,400 in mid-2024. It seems DHA is struggling to keep up with onshore visa applications from Colombian nationals, possibly for further student visas, temporary graduate visas, or for asylum.
In 2023-24, Colombian nationals lodged 19,802 onshore student visa applications, predominantly for the vocational education and training (VET) sector. These applicants would have completed their English courses and are now seeking to further their studies in Australia. Many of these applications would be in the bridging visa backlog awaiting a decision.
With onshore student refusal rates also being ramped up due to an assessment that they are not genuine, students are increasingly applying for review at the AAT. There are now almost 14,000 refused students appealing their refusal at the AAT at end July 2024.
Colombian students who complete their courses are gradually making their way to a temporary graduate visa. Colombian nationals with a temporary graduate visa have increased from less than 300 at end 2013 to over 1,000 prior to COVID. This fell slightly during COVID to less than 1,000 but has then surged to 3,784 at end July 2024. This will rise much further given the number of Colombian students in Australia and the likely number of applicants for temporary graduate visas in the bridging visa backlog.
These temporary graduates will need to find skilled jobs in order to apply for a skilled temporary or permanent visa. Onshore applications for a skilled temporary visa by Colombian nationals have gradually increased from around 300 in 2020-21 to around 850 in 2023-24. This or the rate at which state governments are nominating Colombians on temporary graduate visas for state-nominated visas will need to accelerate significantly for Colombian temporary graduates to avoid being caught in immigration limbo.
If there isn’t a significant increase in Colombian nationals securing skilled temporary or permanent visas, they will need to either depart or apply for asylum. That is why Colombian nationals are now in the top five source countries for asylum.
Prior to January 2024, Colombian nationals did not appear in the top 20 source countries for asylum applications. In the last three months to July 2024, there have been over 150 asylum applications per month from Colombian nationals with Colombia now firmly in the top five.
DHA has not yet provided figures on the processing of these applications in its monthly report. It may be waiting on further advice on the human rights situation in Colombia and on the specific claims being made, to determine how best to assess asylum claims from Colombia.
If there is a high acceptance rate for asylum applications from Colombia, we could expect the application rate to accelerate. If there is a high refusal rate, we may see an increase in appeals to the AAT. Colombian asylum seekers have started to appear in the AAT asylum backlog with 102 cases as at end July 2024.
This is the consequence of allowing a massive boom in students who are looking for permanent residence but are unable to secure skilled jobs that give them the pathway to permanent residence. An important policy question is whether the skills being acquired at Australian education institutions by Colombian nationals are valued by Australian employers.
The situation of Colombian students is a microcosm of what has happened more broadly with the student visa boom.
Dr Abul Rizvi is an Independent Australia columnist and a former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration. You can follow Abul on Twitter @RizviAbul.
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