In a recent article posted on Feb 21, 2023 by Viggo Stacey, Australia has announced the list of professions and courses that will be eligible for extended post-study work rights from July 1. These courses range from health, technology, education and construction. As per the Australian government, this decision has been taken in an attempt to respond to worker shortages in key sectors.
As per the new measures– initially announced in September 2022– eligible international higher education graduates will be allowed to access an extra two years of post-study work rights. Additionally the work hours cap for international students will be increased from 40 hours to 48 hours per fortnight.
In total, the work rights for eligible bachelor graduates across Australia will be extended from two to four years, masters from three to five years, while all doctoral graduates will have their rights increased from four to six years.
Some 226 courses in medical and nursing, professional health, diagnostic, allied health, teaching, engineering, ICT, agriculture and more, have also been included in the list of eligible qualifications.
As courses differ between education providers, some may not be eligible, and the Department of Education will release a comprehensive list mapped to CRICOS course codes before implementation of the policy in July.
According to the government, “future changes to the qualifications list will not impact students starting eligible courses, meaning if a course is removed from the list, students will still be eligible for the extension on graduation”.
Authorities also emphasised that the extension is on top of the existing additional one to two years of post-study work rights for those in regional Australia.
The approved two-year post-study work rights visa extensions were announced as the Council for International Education met in Canberra.