International student Krishna Kumar* is among thousands of students who moved to Canberra to take advantage of the ACT Government’s migration program that would have helped him become a permanent resident in Australia had it not been closed down in June this year.
Mr Kumar moved to Canberra in February this year after completing his master’s degree in accounting from a university in Melbourne; he also quit his job as a financial analyst for the move.
However, his occupation was among those closed down for state nomination on June 29 without any prior notice, leaving him ineligible for a state nomination by the ACT government for his permanent visa.
Having already spent over seven years in Australia, Mr Kumar has now decided to leave the country.
“I don’t think it’s any use spending any more time here after what happened to us here," he said.
"Who can guarantee that the rules won’t change again, even if I somehow manage to meet the new criterion for state nomination?”
He says he even had to defer his studies at the university due to the mental stress caused by the uncertainty over his visa.
Mr Kumar says he has decided to move to Canada. Many students who had moved to Canberra for the same reason and were caught up in the imbroglio, have moved interstate.
However, hundreds still remain in Canberra and are now preparing to sue the ACT government to seek damages.
'Misleading and deceptive conduct'
According to legal advice commissioned by a Canberra migration law firm, the students have “good prospects” of success under Australian Consumer Law if the ACT government is sued for “misleading and deceptive conduct” and “unconscionable conduct” over its handling of the migration program.
Nicholas Houston of Vis Australia says the ACT government knew or should have known that its migration program was “oversubscribed” and yet it continued to promote it to international students before suddenly closing it down.
“We are proposing to run a test case in which one applicant would apply to a local court to have the issue of liability determined. If the court finds in favour of the student, we would then seek to negotiate a settlement with the ACT government or commence further court proceedings on behalf of the students falling within the above class of person,” Mr Houston told SBS Punjabi.
'Unprecedented step'
His firm is contacting the students to inform them about the legal opinion.
Under the ACT government’s Migration program, international students who were living in Canberra and had completed at least 12 months of education in the ACT could apply for a state nomination even if their occupation was not marked as ‘open’ on the ACT’s skills list.
It was partially closed on 29th June this year for all occupations other than those that were ‘open’.
“The ACT government knew or should have known that it did not have sufficient nomination places in the program to allocate to students who were coming into Canberra after this date. It should have closed the program or changed the policy in July 2017 instead of continuing to promote the program until suddenly closing the program on 29 June 2018,” Mr Houston says.
He says this lawsuit may have the effect of ensuring that such migration programs are run in a more transparent and fairer manner.
“Suing an Australian government for mismanagement of its migration program would be an unprecedented step for international students in Australia,” Mr Houston said.
“While it may not result in state nomination, the impending legal action will be observed very closely by the migration advice industry, international student community in Australia and the international education industry.”
'A merit-based process'
An ACT government spokesperson said they have not received formal advice with regard to legal action.
The spokesperson said the “first-in, first-served” migration program has been replaced with a “merit-based” program with additional points allocated to those students who were Canberra residents before the previous program was closed.
“This is a long-term policy change that will more fairly assess prospective applicants, no matter how many nomination places are allocated to the ACT in a given year,” the spokesperson told SBS Punjabi.
The Department of Home Affairs has increased the ACT’s allocation of subclass 190 nomination places for the current year to 1,400 from last year’s 800.
“This will allow the ACT to nominate more people over the remainder of 2018–19 and potentially better assist those who were affected by the 29 June 2018 program restrictions,” the spokesperson added.
*Name changed
