Canberra: Two Australian colleges, Western Sydney University in New South Wales and Federation University in Victoria, have each issued a prohibition on accepting students from certain Indian states due to an increase in fraudulent visa applications, according to reports in the media.
Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir were among the states from which the education brokers were directed to exclude applicants. The report indicated that one in four applications is now deemed “fraudulent” or “non-genuine” by the country's Department of Home Affairs.
The prohibition was made public before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trip to Australia, which included a significant gathering of the Indian diaspora in Sydney.
In a letter on May 19, Federation University said that they have observed a significant increase in the proportion of visa applications being refused from some Indian regions by the Department of Home Affairs. “We hoped this would prove to be a short-term issue [but] it is now clear there is a trend emerging,” the letter said.
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.
“The regions within India that have been identified as presenting the highest attrition risk are Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat," the letter from the university on May 8 said. “Due to the urgency of this matter, the university has decided to pause recruitment from these regions in India, effective immediately.” the letter further said.
Emails obtained from Victoria University, Edith Cowan University, the University of Wollongong, Torrens University, as well as agents affiliated with Southern Cross University, suggested a noticeable tightening of scrutiny on these Indian students' applications.