‘It’s a dead end’: Int’l students appeal for a transition period before imposing age limit on graduate visa

Some International students appeal for a transition period before imposing age limit on graduate visa. Credit: Supplied

International students are appealing for a transition period before the proposed age limit reduction for the Temporary Graduate visa is implemented.

An online petition has been published on Parliamentary of Australia aiming to gather 20,000 signatures before 12th of June 2024 at 11:59PM AEST, after a proposal has been made to lower the age requirement for Temporary Graduate visa 485 applicants from 50 to 35 years old.
Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded a 5% increase on the number of Temporary Graduate visa subclass 485 lodgements since 2022. Last year, the Department of Home Affairs received 105,146 applications.
Based on the research conducted by the Group of Eight universities and the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations in 2022, about 40% of the PhD students are aged 30 or over.
Home Affairs recently announced that the eligibility age will remain at 50 for certain streams of the visa, specifically for “international PhD” and “masters by research” applicants.