KUWAIT CITY, Jan 10: Australian Ambassador to Kuwait Melissa Kelly said there is no plan to exempt Kuwaitis from entry visa to her country or to change the current visa procedures, reports Al-Qabas daily. Kelly told the daily that in fiscal 2022/2023, Australia granted 182 student visas to Kuwaitis; while in the first five months of fiscal 2023/2024, 106 student visas were granted to Kuwaitis. She expects to see the continuation of the rising number of Kuwaitis studying in her country. She explained that the period for completion of transactions varies, indicating a calculator for average execution period is available on the Ministry of Internal Affairs website. She said the current data show that 50 percent of student visa applications (subcategory 500) are completed within 14 days of applying.

She added: “To improve transaction completion times, we encourage applicants to ‘verify twice, apply once,’ which means ensuring that all required information is completed, that there are no errors, especially in the spelling of names and dates of birth, and that all attachments are included, including translations.” Measures Asked if Australia took new measures regarding visas for students and whether these measures apply to Kuwaitis, she pointed out that the reforms announced on Dec 11 last year were the results of a comprehensive review of the overall immigration program in all visa categories; affirming they apply to international students including Kuwaitis. She also warned that some education service providers help students to illegally obtain work rights in Australia through the use of a student visa, in addition to incidents of exploitation of international students. “We are committed to ensuring that the international education program in Australia continues to flourish, and student visas play a role in facilitating this.

For this reason, we have introduced reforms to enhance the integrity of the student visa system to ensure that only genuine students receive visas to pursue study opportunities. We want to ensure that real students have a positive experience in Australia, through the highest standards of quality, safety and integrity in our educational system. The students will still be able to choose whether they use their qualifications to return to their countries, join the global workforce or apply their skills to a career in Australia,” she clarified. She also stated that the reforms make it easier for graduates to remain in Australia to work in areas requiring their skills. She then expressed her country’s appreciation for international students, considering it benefits from the diverse skills and ideas that they bring to the Australian society.