The Australian Government is looking to push forward with a plan to reduce international student numbers with a new visa directive, despite proposed new laws being blocked by the coalition.
To continue with its goal to cut the number of international students the Government is now looking to a implement a legal workaround to slow down visas.
Once applications get close to the targets set for each university, international students will see their visa process slowed, a workaround after the government failed to pass laws to cap student numbers through parliament.
The directive will have Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke instruct immigration officials to treat student visa applications as a high priority until education providers reach a "prioritisation threshold" which is set by the government, but is not to be taken as a cap on the total number of visas that may be granted.
The original laws would have put limits on international students set at 270,000 new enrolments across the sector for next year, and on Wednesday the Labor Government revealed new targets of 340,000 net overseas migrants for 2024 and 2025, up 30 per cent from previous estimates.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said that the new directive was needed after passing the proposed laws was unsuccessful.
"We did want to have it done through legislation…with the caps that we took to parliament. They weren't able to get through," Gallagher said.
"So the ministers have looked at other ways to manage the incoming student numbers in a way that we can best meet the needs of the universities but also the numbers of people arriving in Australia."