Just when an estimated 15,000 Indian students in Australia were bracing themselves to have their permanent residency (PR) dream cut short by the country's new immigration rules, a new visa capping bill introduced in the country's parliament has become for them an additional cause of worry.
The Migration Amendment (visa capping) Bill 2010 will allow Immigration and Citizenship minister Chris Evans "to cap and terminate visa applications based on certain objective characteristics". Though the bill seeks only to give the minister the power to implement a cap in future if necessary, many Indian students in Australia fear that it can be used with retrospective effect.
The outraged students have petitioned the Australian government to reconsider the bill. "It will be unfair and inhumane to pass this law," said petitioner Ajay Pal Singh Sandhu of Essendon, Victoria.
Rohit Kumar, a resident of Adelaide, also protested the bill, saying, "This is against humanity for sure, especially for genuine students. Indians are helping the Australian economy by paying hefty fees and are not getting any benefit in return from the federal government." Migration lawyer Dinesh Iriyagolle Weerakkody, who drafted the petition, says the students' fears are well- founded.
"If the immigration minister decides that a particular number of accountants are required for the year 2010, all applications lodged after reaching this limit may be ceased and the application fee refunded," Weerakkody said. Applicants may only have 28 days to leave Australia once their visa is capped.
Under the new rules, introduced during the tenure of former prime minister Kevin Rudd, the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) - a fast track to PR in Australia - has been culled by more than half.
Excluded from the new SOL are popular occupation choices among applicants like hairdressing and cookery.
Vayalar Ravi, minister for overseas Indian affairs, has intervened on behalf of Indian students, asking Australia to implement the SOL "prospectively and not retrospectively", but so far, Canberra hasn't given any assurance to students who will be displaced by the new rules.
The Australian High Commission in New Delhi, however, issued a statement clarifying that no student will be sent back home this month, and that there are no plans to apply the Visa Capping Bill to the student visa programme. The high commission also reiterated that the changes in Australia's immigration policy are not retrospective. Student visa holders from February 8, 2010 will be given transition arrangements until 2012- end, the release said.
A PR is still not guaranteed, pointed out Weerakkody. "Students will have to depend for state sponsorship or employee nominations," he said.
"Only those who had applied for a temporary visa by February 8 this year will be able to apply for the PR under the old SOL till the end of 2012," explained Weerakkody, adding: " But they will have to depend for state sponsorship or employee nominations."
Source:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/104201/World/indian-students-face-uncertain-future-down-under.html
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