‘Sadness and frustration’ as Australia puts student visas on ice

Racing to establish a career in finance before artificial intelligence superseded his skills, mathematician Kaiyu Deng enrolled in a master’s by research course rather than a longer PhD, hoping to launch himself on the job market within 18 months instead of 36.

He chose overseas study because offshore experience is valued in China’s finance industry. He selected Australia because the relationship between China and the US is “really terrible” and because he knew a Sydney supervisor with “very high academic skills”.

Fourteen months later, Deng’s plans are in tatters because Australia has not granted him a visa. Queries to immigration officials have proven fruitless. “The only response is that my visa application is still in other agencies,” Deng said.

He went to the trouble of lodging a second visa application – costing him A$2,500 (£1,305), on top of the A$2,000 fee for the initial lodgement – after hearing that Chinese counterparts had secured visas after reapplying.

Deng estimates that the impasse has cost him A$13,000 so far in fees, flights and living expenses after he came to Sydney on a visitor’s visa to reacquaint himself with his supervisor face to face. His offer of a place at the University of Technology Sydney will expire if he has not obtained a student visa by 30 November. At that stage, his choice will be to seek a job in China or a university place in another country, after waiting for the start of the northern academic year.

Deng is perplexed at the time required to obtain a master’s by research visa to study pure mathematics – a topic that is “not sensitive”, he said. He has lost hope of graduating before 2028. “At that time, maybe it will be extremely hard for me to get a job. I have already somehow wasted one and half years. It has…ruined everything.”

Deng is one of 150-plus research students who claim to be facing protracted delays after applying for Australian visas. The median wait period so far is about eight months. More than 50 of the students applied over a year ago. Ninety say their funded PhD positions are now at risk.

The students say they have received very limited information about the reasons for the delays or when they can expect outcomes. Formal complaints submitted by scores of the students have mostly elicited generic responses or none at all.

The Department of Home Affairs’ online guide says half of visas in this category are processed within 17 days, and 90 per cent within 55 days. Postgraduate research students are exempt from the low-priority visa processing arrangements under ministerial direction 115.

A Home Affairs spokesman said a “small number” of postgraduate research students and research scholars were experiencing visa delays. “The department is continuing to process applications as quickly as possible while maintaining the integrity of Australia’s migration system,” he said.

“A visa cannot be granted until the department is satisfied all legislative requirements have been met. The timing for the completion of these checks varies…depending on individual circumstances.”

Shanghai-based Qi Qin said he had waited well over two years after applying for a visa to undertake a PhD in artificial intelligence at the University of Sydney. He had not worked during that period, leaving him with a “deep sense of sadness and frustration. These are years I can’t get back.”

Materials scientist Zongming Ni has already deferred his PhD at Monash University, where he is enrolled to research solar cell performance, having applied for his visa four months ago.

“The delay has disrupted my academic plans at a particularly important stage of my research career,” he said. “I had expected to begin my doctoral research in October 2026, allowing me to build upon my previous publications and research experience without a prolonged interruption.​ Instead, I have had to postpone my research plans and reconsider the timing of future academic commitments.​”

While the “uncertainty” is galling, Ni is particularly concerned about the lack of transparency. “Applicants cannot reasonably respond to a delay when they do not know whether their applications are undergoing additional checks, awaiting allocation to an officer or simply waiting in a processing queue.”

Prolonged visa processing delays have plagued Australia-bound research students from China – along with those from India, Iran and Pakistan – since well before the coronavirus pandemic. Analysts say the issue is jeopardising a crucial component of Australia’s research capacity.

Foreigners comprise 42 per cent of postgraduate research students in Australia and account for 65 per cent of higher research degree enrolments in information technology and 70 per cent in engineering and related technologies, according to the latest available statistics.

Former University of Melbourne deputy vice-chancellor Frank Larkins has warned of a “crisis” in Australian research training, after domestic doctoral enrolments plunged by 15 per cent in a decade. Universities are increasingly struggling to plug the shortfall with international students, Larkins said.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com