However, the lure of migration is a major contributor to students coming to Australia to study. Research by the Social Research Centre at ANU found around 80 per cent of students from India and Nepal indicated that the possibility of moving to Australia was a factor in their decision to study here.
Around 75 per cent of Malaysian students and 70 per cent of Vietnamese students also indicated migration influenced their decision. However, it was a factor for only 45 per cent of Chinese students.
Mr Norton said the federal government does not publish how many former international students express interest for a permanent residency visa, but the numbers were around 200,000 a year, although with possible duplicates.
However, international students were transitioning to permanent residency at lower rates than in the past.
Education Minister Jason Clare last year indicated he was keen to see the proportion of international students who remain in Australia and go on to residency increase from 16 per cent to a figure more like Canada’s 27 per cent.
“When they graduate they go home. It would be great if they stayed on and helped us fill some of those chronic skill gaps … seems to me like a no-brainer,” Mr Clare said at the time.
The Grattan Institute last year proposed that permanent employer sponsorship to be made available for workers in any occupation earning more than $85,000 a year which would help to speed up and simplify visa processing.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has suggested the figure should be $90,000.
As part of a review of the immigration system, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has said everything is on the table including the axing of skilled occupation lists and the number of visa categories slashed in an effort to give businesses a greater say in determining what jobs are in short supply.
Mr Norton said he also harbours concerns about stringing students along “on the potentially false hope of actually getting residency”.
However, there was a potential “sweet spot” over the next couple of years as lower rates of graduation due to lower enrolments during COVID-19 will reduce competition for jobs and therefore for transition to permanent migration, Mr Norton said.
“Add to that the fact it looks like the government might keep the total number of PR spots a bit elevated on historical levels for a couple of years,” Mr Norton said.
“But in the long term, if we keep ramping up the numbers of international students and number of permanent residency spots stays around the same, it is still going to be really hard to get PR.”
