May 29th, 2023: The Department of Home Affairs currently classifies one out of every four applications as fraudulent or non-genuine. Which States in India have been affected?
Due to an increase in fraudulent visa applications, two Australian colleges, Western Sydney University in New South Wales and Federation University in Victoria, have both decided they will no longer accept students from selected Indian states.
The education representatives were given instructions to disregard applicants from the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana.
According to the study, the country's Department of Home Affairs has now determined that one out of every four applications is false or untrue.
The decision was made after the visa refusal rate for Indian students applying to Australian institutions hit a 10-year high, at over 25% of those applications being flagged as fraudulent or non-genuine. The prohibition is meant to last for at least two months and is in effect right away.
The prohibition was made public before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-day trip to Australia on Monday, when a sizable gathering of the Indian community was scheduled for Sydney. According to Federation University, the Department of Home Affairs is rejecting an increasing number of visa applications from certain Indian districts. In a letter from the Federation University it was mentioned that, “We hoped this would prove to be a short-term issue but it is now clear there is a trend emerging.”
In a letter to agents, Western Sydney University stated that it could no longer accept applications from Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat due to the high number of Indian students who began their studies in 2022 but dropped out. Western Sydney University said, “The regions within India that have been identified as presenting the highest attrition risk are Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat. Due to the urgency of this matter, the university has decided to pause recruitment from these regions in India, effective immediately.”
The issue was that a significant number of applicants seemed to have other goals in mind than following their planned degrees, ones that were more focused on work chances in Australia.
The Indian states of Punjab and Haryana are completely prohibited from submitting applications to Edith Cowan University in Perth. In the months that followed, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, Victoria University tightened its limits on student applications even more.
May 29th, 2023: The Department of Home Affairs currently classifies one out of every four applications as fraudulent or non-genuine.