PM Scott Morrison announced his government will rebate visa application fees for international students and backpackers who come to Australia and help ease the workforce shortage.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this $630 fee rebate for international students would be covered for the next eight weeks.
He said there are 150,000 international students and 23,500 backpackers with visas and his message were clear – “come on down”.
“We want you to come to Australia and enjoy a holiday here … move all the way around the country,”
Mr Morrison said.
“We’ve relaxed the 20-hour rule when it comes to student visas and that they can be working more than 20 hours. I want to stress, though, when it comes to working holidaymakers, that we haven’t changed any of the rules around the regional requirements. That’s very important because we still need people working in those regional areas.”
“At the same time, join our workforce and help us in our agricultural sector, in our hospitality sector, and so many of the other parts of the economy that rely on that labour.”
“For backpackers, it will be 12 weeks, 12 weeks from today. If they turn up within the next 12 weeks, they will get their visa application fee rebated by the Department of Home Affairs. Anyone who applies for one and turns up within the next 12 weeks, will also have their visa application fee rebated.”
Regarding international students, Mr Morrison said he was encouraging them to be back for the start of the university year as a “thank you for choosing Australia”.
“But we also want them to come here and to be filling some of these critical workforce shortages, particularly those who are working and being trained in health care, aged care, those types of sectors, that will be incredibly helpful,” he said.
The government will also give $3 million to Tourism Australia for a marketing campaign targeting backpackers and students.