Student Visa Program Report

Key Points
• The March 2011 quarter data indicates that student visa applications may be stabilising from the decrease
experienced in 2009 and 2010.
• There were 36 523 student visa applications lodged in March 2011. This was the second highest number of
applications lodged during March in the last 4 years.
• The grant rate for student applications for the 3 month period between 1 January and 31 March 2011 increased to
93.6% compared to the previous 3 months (92.8%).
• There were 183 441 student visa grants in the 2010-11 program year to the end of March 2011. This represents
11.1% decrease compared to the same period in 2009-10 (206 354 grants).
• Visa processing times have improved considerably, compared to the previous four periods, with 75% of all
applications processed in 29 days during this quarter.