Overview of Student Visa Changes to Assist International Education Sector

调整学生签证政策，推动国际教育发展

On 16 December 2010, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen, and the Minister for Tertiary Education, Senator Chris Evans, announced a strategic review of the student visa program and package of measures to ease the pressure on the international education sector.

2010年12月16日，澳大利亚移民与公民事务部（以下简称移民部）部长Chris Bowen和高等教育部长Chris Evans参议员宣布将对学生签证项目进行策略复审，以及多项具体措施以减轻国际教育部门的压力。

Certificate Level Vocational Education and Training courses

The department has updated its policy to reflect amendments implemented within the vocational education and training (VET) sector regarding the certificate level courses.

证书级别的职业教育与培训课程

移民部已更新相关政策，以体现对职业教育与培训证书级别的课程所作的改变。

From today, VET (subclass 572) visa applicants who are assessment level 4 may undertake a package of certificate level courses to meet requirements for the grant of a visa. 

从今天起，职业教育与培训（572类）学生签证评估等级(AL)4的学生签证申请人可以就读证书级别的配套课程，这将能够满足获得学生签证的要求。

Applicants can package up to four certificate level courses, which total at least one year’s duration, where one element is a certificate IV level course.  Previously for these applicants, it was a requirement that the certificate IV alone was of at least one year’s duration.

申请人能够配套就读最多四门证书级别的课程，所有证书课程的总学期至少为一年，并且课程中包含一门四级证书课程。而此前仅就读四级证书一门课程，就必须至少一年时间。

Prepaid formal boarding fees

预付正式寄宿学校的住宿费

Implemented immediately, the department will refine policy on the assessment of tuition and boarding fees by student visa processing officers.  This will encourage providers to separate the boarding component of fees prepaid by students from the tuition fees so that prepaid boarding fees can be counted towards the students’ cost of living requirements.

移民部将调整学生签证评审官对学费和寄宿学校住宿费的评估政策，此调整将立即实施。这将鼓励学校将学生预付的寄宿学校的住宿费与学费分列出来，这样，学生已预付的寄宿学校的住宿费就可以从签证申请所要求的生活费用中扣除。

New statistical publication

公布新的统计数据

The Ministers have committed to improve information exchange between the government and the sector. 

移民部长和高等教育部长承诺将改进政府与院校间的信息交流。

The first initiative, an in-depth statistical publication on the student visa program will be available on the department’s website from January 2011. This publication will be updated on a quarterly basis. 

第一项计划是从2011年1月起，将在移民部的网站上公布有深度的学生签证统计数据。公布的数据将每季度更新一次。

Changes to assessment levels

签证评估等级（AL）的调整

Assessment levels (ALs) are a risk management approach applied to all student visas, determining the amount of evidence visa applicants need to supply and the level of scrutiny with which their claims are assessed.

签证评估等级是一种针对所有学生签证类别的风险管理方法，它决定了签证申请人需提供哪些证明材料以及评审他们的申请所需达到的调查程度。

From April 2011, ALs will be reduced, so that 38 countries will have their assessment level lowered across one or more subclasses.  A full list of the proposed changes is included below.

从2011年4月起，一些签证评估等级将被降低。38个国家的签证评估等级将在一个或多个学生签证类别中降低。以下所附清单列出了所有提议的签证评估等级的调整。

Frequently asked questions

常见问题

General

一般问题

I am an international student studying in Australia, do these changes affect me? When do these changes take place?

我是正在澳大利亚留学的国际学生，这些变化对我有影响吗？这些变化何时开始生效？

No.  These changes will only affect new student visa applications made after the implementation dates as outlined below.

没有影响。这些变化只对在相关措施生效后提交学生签证的新申请人有影响。相关措施和具体生效日期如下：

Are there any other changes to migration legislation or policy regarding student visas that will occur shortly?

移民立法或学生签证政策在近期还将有其他变化吗？