Imagine shelling out for a uni. degree in Sydney, only to find your lecture hall half-full of "students" who couldn't string a sentence in English if their PR visa depended on it, which, let's face it, it does. Welcome to Australia's international education racket, where the chalkboard's a smokescreen for a migration free-for-all. Jobs & Skills Australia's bombshell report this week? Nearly 70% of foreign students pick Oz not for enlightenment, but for the golden ticket: work rights and permanent residency. "Migration aspirations are a primary goal," JSA admits, with grads chaining temporary visas like a bad Tinder swipe until they snag forever status. It's official: These aren't scholars; they're stealth migrants, and the Albanese Labor government's hell-bent on flooding the joint with them as part of its not-so-subtle "Asianisation" agenda. Call it what it is, a demographic overhaul dressed as dollars for unis. Time to pull the pin on this scam before it turns the Lucky Country into a crowded outpost of the Asia-Pacific.
Let's cut the BS: Australia's "world-class" unis are less ivory tower, more immigration agency with a side hustle in tuition fees. JSA's data doesn't lie; international students are "an important feeder group" to permanent migration, lingering on bridging visas like guests who outstay the party. August 2025? A record-shattering 400,000+ bridging visas on issue, the first time ever, with over 100,000 tied to ex-students playing the appeals game. The Administrative Review Tribunal? Swamped with 32,187 student visa refusal appeals in 2024-25, up from 5,499 pre-COVID; that's 38.6% of its caseload, all thanks to Labor's crackdown on dodgy providers clashing with students who treat "study" as a synonym for "stay."
X is ablaze with the outrage: "The highest number of illegal overstayers in Australia's history," blasts one user, tagging Albo and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke for answers. Another calls it a "migration scam," with unis like Sydney enrolling more foreigners than Aussies, 51% last year, prioritising wallets over wisdom. Employers spill the tea: One engineering boss quoted a grad whose "mates just come here to earn the money, drive the Uber." Sound familiar? It's the illegal migrant playbook: Cross the border (or book the flight), game the system, and dig in. Bridging visas, meant as a temporary bridge, have become amoat keeping these "students" from heading home. And with net overseas migration still north of 500,000 annually, it's no wonder housing's a warzone and rents are through the roof.
This isn't education; it's exploitation. Foreign "students" flood low-rent courses at shonky colleges, rack up debt (or fake it), then pivot to Ubers and appeals. Meanwhile, genuine Aussie kids drown in HECS fees for a system that's sold out to the highest bidder.
Enter Anthony Albanese's Labor crew, the architects of this mess. Facing a post-COVID migration hangover and a housing crisis that makes tent cities look appealing, what do they do? Double down. After slapping a 270,000 cap on 2025 commencements (which they missed anyway, thanks to visa fee hikes and crackdowns), Albo's now jacking it to 295,000 for 2026, a 9% hike, while "prioritising" Southeast Asia. Exemptions for secondary school grads and vocational pathways? Check. Lowered English tests? You bet, because nothing says "quality" like admitting folks who think "G'day" is a maths equation. Universities Australia cheers it as "good for the nation," but let's translate: Good for their bottom line, profits; catastrophic for cohesion.
This isn't policy; it's a playbook for "Asianisation," Labor's quiet quest to remake Australia in the image of its nearest neighbours. With India, China, Nepal, and Vietnam dominating the student flood (Level 2 priority nations), we're not just importing brains; we're engineering a demographic shift. Albo's multiculturalism fetish, turbocharged by post-election pandering, sees high migration as a virtue, even if it means 700,000+ student visa holders straining services, labs, and the rental market. Critics on X nail it: "Fake degrees sold to international students who might apply for a PR visa later... choking the country." Labor's response? More caps lifted, less scrutiny, all while Burke fiddles with borders as Rome (or rather, Sydney) burns.
The agenda's clear: Dilute the Anglo-Celtic core, boost GDP stats with cheap labour, and lock in a voter bloc that skews urban, progressive, and grateful to Labor. It's the same sleight-of-hand that's turned Europe into a balkanized bazaar. Australia deserves better than becoming Beijing-lite with a side of Bollywood.
Don't take my word; the fallout's everywhere. Rents up 20% in capital cities? Blame the 100k+ ex-students bunking in share houses. Wage stagnation in hospitality and gig economy? Flooded with "graduates" driving Ubers instead of innovating. And culture? Unis peddling "decolonised" curricula to foreigners who view Oz as a pit stop, not a home. As one X poster laments: "What a surprise then!" at the migration motive reveal. We're breeding resentment, not brilliance, a powder keg for the next Cronulla or worse.
Leith van Onselen's got the blueprint: Hike English and financial bars (escrow those funds!), cap work hours, sever the study-PR umbilical, limit family tags, slap a student levy on tax-free unis, and mandate on-campus digs to ease rental pain. Entrance exams? Bring them back. Exceptional grads only for shortages? Spot on. But Labor's allergic, they'd rather virtue-signal than govern.
Aussies, this is your wake-up: International "students" are illegals with diplomas, and Albo's greasing the wheels for an Asianised future that drowns the fair go! Demand reform now, email Burke, rally the burbs, vote with your feet (or your wallet). Or watch the Lucky Country turn into the Overcrowded One.
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/10/international-students-refuse-to-return-home/