In an effort to provide more equitable access to educational providers, the Australian government has unveiled a new prioritizing method for processing applications for offshore student visas. This modification is a component of Ministerial Direction 111, which supersedes Direction 107. Under the new system, visa applications for a specific institution will be processed up to 80% of the indicative caps set by the national information system PRISMS. Once this threshold is reached, the institution will be placed at the back of the processing line, and other colleges or universities that have not met the 80% mark will be given priority.
The new system applies only to offshore student visa applications for students currently outside Australia. If you’ve already applied for a student visa and it hasn’t been finalized, your application will now be processed under the new rules of MD111.
Two Priority Categories: Two priority categories will be used to expedite applications for offshore foreign visas:
Priority 1: Processing visa applications from Vocational Education and Training and higher education providers that have not yet attained 80% of their indicative 2025 new overseas student commencements (NOSC) allocation will be given top priority.
Priority 2: After 80% of a provider’s NOSC has been attained, applications will be evaluated under this heading.
On the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations website, the Australian Government has made available indicative allocations for providers of vocational education and training as well as higher education. It is important to remember that applications with inaccurate information or missing papers result in a longer processing time for visas. As a result, in order to facilitate efficient processing, it is essential that you submit your visa application as soon as possible and include all necessary information at that time.
