It has the potential to address skills shortages in certain areas. However, a range of systemic issues persist.
First, there is a dissonance between policy intention and the reality of the labour market, which hampers international graduates’ employment experiences and outcomes in Australia.
Our research, including 50 interviews with employers, international graduates, and migration agents, as well as the survey mentioned above, shows that many employers lack understanding about the 485 visa and the work entitlements attached to it.
Employers often use visa status to filter job applicants and prefer those with permanent residency or citizenship. It’s common for international graduates on a two-year temporary graduate visa to apply for a one-year contract job and be assessed by the employer as a good fit, but not get hired. Often, they are advised to reapply once they’ve got permanent residency.
No job, no work experience
The chicken-or-egg situation around migration, local work experience and employment still exists. Without permanent residency, international graduates’ access to the labour market is hampered due to the preference of employers for those with permanent status. But without employment relative to their field of study, it is difficult for international graduates to secure PR or qualify for other skilled visa pathways.
Similarly, employers want local work experience. However, for many international graduates, without a job, there’s no possibility of them getting work experience.
Our survey found that more than half were unemployed or working outside their field of study, in lower skilled areas like retail and hospitality. It would be difficult for these graduates to move out from lower-skilled jobs and extended temporary visa length won’t solve the problem.
While extending the duration of the 485 visa might provide employers in hospitality, for example, a much-needed boost in the supply of labour, the fact that we fail to efficiently harness and maximise the skills of these graduates remains.
This cohort is vulnerable to exploitation, deskilling and underpayment. At the same time, they continue to languish in migration limbo as the likelihood in securing permanent residency is diminished.
Our research shows that many international graduates become disillusioned because they were given the impression, mostly from offshore education agents, that the 485 visa is a guaranteed pathway to permanent residency or employment.
With the extension of the 485 visa by two years, it is likely this will be exacerbated. Mechanisms are urgently needed to manage education agents with respect to ethical practice and accurate advice on post-study work rights, work and migration nexus.
We suggest that policy needs to encourage more domestic employers to take on international student graduates, alongside better information for employers on post-study work rights and the value of international graduates to their businesses.
In areas of skills shortage, there needs to be faster and more transparent pathways to permanent residency for these graduates.
Strong mechanisms must be put in place to avoid a repeat of the late 2000s when tens of thousands of students converged on Australia with the primary purpose of getting residency, not study.
There also needs to be measures to deal with the consequences of recent policy changes that have directly influenced enrolments in certain courses, in certain locations, from certain source countries and the provision of courses which get extra bonus points in post-study work rights and permanent residency pathways.
A holistic and long-term strategy would enhance the viability and sustainability of the international education sector without the over-dependence on post-study work as a major drawcard to international students.
We must tackle structural issues around the temporary graduate visa, migration prospects and international graduates’ access to the labour market to improve the effectiveness and integrity of the post-study work rights and skilled migration policies.
Ly Tran is a professor in the School of Education at Deakin University and George Tan is an expert in migration and population research at the University of Adelaide.
