Foreigners staying and working in Australia for study purposes will no longer be permitted to work more than 48 hours every two weeks, impacting student visa holders’ financial means.
Abigail Ildefonso, an international student from the Philippines, says the new measure will affect her work-study-life balance while prices are going up, and working hours are shortened, along with her raising her infant son and paying study fees, VisaGuide.World reports.
“Why do international students get capped working hours when domestic students with the same academic needs can work unlimited?” she says for SBS Filipino.
Abigail is in her last year of studies to earn a Bachelor of Nursing degree at a university in Melbourne, and her tuition fees surpass $30,000 while she also pays up to $20,000 for herself, her husband and her son’s healthcare. She also notes that weekly grocery bills had increased by $100 more since 2019 when she got to Australia.
The 23-year -old that is currently working 60 hours every two weeks as a nurse, fears that the new measure will put her and her family’s basic needs at great risk, while she points out that childcare is the reason why she is able to work and study in the first place. Moreover, international students are not eligible to receive any grants; thus, she is entitled to pay full fees – around $140 a day.
Such a situation leaves Abigail unable to continue working as her income is too low, and if she can’t afford childcare, she has to be the one taking care of her child. This automatically takes her out of the workforce.
The restrictive measure of working hours for student visa holders in Australia was introduced before the COVID-19 pandemic, with students being permitted to work no more than 40 hours every two weeks. During the pandemic, the measure was put on hold to be reintroduced now and enter force on July 1, with the cap being slightly increased to 48 hours.
Affected international students, groups and organizations working for the welfare of this category, such as the Support Network for International Students (SNIS), have come together and are calling for the abolishment of the measure.
Ness Gavanzo, the group coordinator, says that the group works to acknowledge the economic impact that international students have from such measures developed and to call for the abolishment of the working hours’ cap.
“During the pandemic, international students were mostly the ones working the essential jobs and services because citizens and permanent residents could receive Job Keeper allowance or ask for financial support from Centrelink, but these students were not eligible,” Gavanzo pointed out.
According to him, this is when international students were living proof that they could balance working more than 40 hours while also meeting their academic requirements.
On the other hand, the measure was introduced by the Australian government as an effort to impose work and study balance on international students.
The increase of eight additional hours that applies now compared to the pre-pandemic restriction has been added as the Australian government considers it will help students to generate work experience as well as contribute to Australia’s workforce while reaching their academic goals.
While requirements and measures applied to migrants from other countries, such as international students, tighten, the Australian government has proposed to reform the immigration system, which also intends to accelerate immigration procedures for highly skilled workers. The initiative is expected to facilitate the migrant selection process and quickly identify people that have the skills needed for the country’s economy.
Other changes that have been discussed under such a proposal include increasing the minimum wage cap for skilled workers, which was frozen for ten years and establishing a clear and much easier permanent residency pathway for more than 17,000 foreign workers in the country.
The post Australia’s Working-Hours Cap for International Students Ignites Concerns for Their Financial Well-Being appeared first on VisaGuide.World.
