"Dream Shattered in an Instant": Sudden Clampdown by "This Country" Amid Ongoing Preparations

Australia Tightens Regulations on Working Holiday Visas and International Students

Restrictions Placed on Accompanying Family Members

Agricultural Sector, Dependent on Immigration, Fears Labor Shortages

Australia has moved to strengthen its immigration rules by prohibiting foreign students from bringing spouses or children with them and introducing a lottery system for extending working holiday visas.

A diver swimming in the Australian sea. Photo by Getty Images

According to reports from the BBC, The Guardian, and other foreign media on the 17th (local time), Australian Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke announced an overhaul of immigration regulations aimed at reducing the country’s annual net migration from the current 300,000 to 225,000 by 2028.

Under the new measures, those wishing to extend a working holiday visa— which has a basic stay period of one year— must be selected by lottery. The number of second-year working holiday visas will be limited to 45,000 annually, and third-year visas to 5,000 per year, thereby reducing the total number granted.

In addition, the policy will restrict most international students from bringing family members to stay in Australia, with the exception of students from Pacific island nations, ASEAN member states, and some PhD candidates. Foreign students will now only be able to renew their student visas if enrolling in a higher-level degree program compared to their previous studies.

Visa overstay enforcement will also be strengthened. To this end, the government plans to add 100 immigration enforcement officers and increase capacity at immigrant detention facilities by 250 places.

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Minister Burke stated, "Immigration is fundamentally a strength for Australia," but added, "We need to moderate the pace of migration to allow housing supply to catch up with demand."

Since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the influx of international students and other immigrants in Australia has caused housing prices in major cities to soar. This has, in turn, increased support for the far-right One Nation Party, which advocates against immigration. Addressing this, Minister Burke said, "It is simply wrong and untrue to suggest that these policies were hastily introduced in response to recent political developments."

Australia's annual net migration surged to 538,000 in 2022 following the end of the pandemic, but has since gradually decreased, reaching 292,100 between April of last year and March of this year.

Working Holiday Makers at a strawberry farm in Australia. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Meanwhile, there are concerns about labor shortages in certain sectors, such as agriculture, that rely heavily on immigrant workers.

The National Farmers' Federation of Australia issued a statement on the same day, saying, "Working Holiday Program participants fill one in seven farm jobs and play a key role in the production, harvesting, packing, and supermarket supply of food and fiber crops." It criticized the announcement as a "cruel move" that threatens food security and rural economies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.