As part of its student visa scrutiny, Australia has reportedly singled out four South Asian nations by raising their position on the high-risk level assessment. A new report released this week indicated that the Oceanic country silently made the move to crackdown on international students from certain countries over what it deems to be fraudulent cases of visa applications.
The four countries most severely impacted in the process are India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan, according to an exclusive report by News.com.au.
The report further quoted a Home Affair spokesman confirming, “on January 8, 2026, Evidence Levels (EL) of several countries in South Asia were altered.” The same would, in turn, result in slower visa processing times.
India red-flagged amid Australia’s student visa scrutiny
The Australian news report quoted former Immigration Department deputy secretary Dr Abul Rizvi saying that the four South Asian countries affected in the process accounted for nearly one-third of all international student enrollments in the country last year. Consequently, the federal government altered their Evidence Levels (ELs) , raising them to their highest marks.
Dr Rizvi called the shift “highly unusual,” as Australia’s federal government cited “emerging integrity issues” for making the move, as per News.com.au. The highest-risk category shift saw the countries, including India moving from Evidence Level 2 to Evidence Level 3.
As per the Home Affairs spokesperson quoted in the Australian news report, the change was focussed on facilitating “genuine students seeking a quality education” in the country.
In order to ensure that all students take back a worthwhile experience during their stay while receiving high-quality education, the Australian government believed that the international education system and Student Visa Program has the “right settings,” the report noted.
What does the higher Evidence Level rating on Australia’s Simplified Student Visa Framework mean?
In simple words, the higher the rating, the more intense the visa vetting process would be. As per Dr Rizvi’s admission to News.com.au, the higher the risk level, the more the visa processing officer would invest in manually going through the documentation and beyond.
“They will ring institutions to check transcripts, they might contact the bank to [verify financial statements],” the former Immigration Department official told the Australian news outlet.
Following the recent revision, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan were moved from Evidence Level 2 to Evidence Level 3, with the latter being the highest-risk rating in Australia’s Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF). Consequently, higher scrutiny will be exercised while weighing out the applicant’s financial capacity, academic background and English language test.
Dr Rizvi told News.com.au that the previous such update came around July-August 2025, which shifted China from EL1 to EL2, thereby putting the Asian nation at par with India and Nepal. Further explaining what may have fuelled the move against India in the new year, he pointed towards recent reports about a massive fake university certificate racket.
As part of the fake degree racket bust, Kerala Police ended up seizing 100,000 forged certificates from 22 universities. Ultimately, the likes of Australian Senator Malcolm Robert accused Prime Minister Antony Albanese’s government of failing to stop foreign students with allegedly fake degrees from studying and working in Australia.
“It is possible, although my suspicion is very few of the people who apply to study in Australia would have gotten a dodgy degree in India, because they risk that being investigated and caught out,” Dr Rizvi told News.com.au.
How many Indian students in Australia
According to the official Australian Government’s Department of Education website, the tally of international students studying in Australia totalled 833,041 for the January-October 2025 period. Of these, 140,871 came from India, making the South Asian nation the second-largest source of international students for Australia.
Of the 140,871 Indian students coming to study in Australia for the Jan-Oct 2025 period, 31,197 were new applicants, whereas 109,674 were continuing students.
For the January-December 2024 period, the number of Indian students in Australia stood slightly lower at 138,351, with 33,539 as newcomers and 104,812 as continuing students.