In a November 11 update, the Department of Home Affairs highlighted “emerging risks” involving prospective students and education agents “seeking to exploit Australia’s immigration system”.
The note described multiple reports of student visa applicants using fraudulent passport details to gain confirmation of enrolments with Australian education providers. The department said this has been particularly evident in the higher education sector, with Group of Eight (Go8) institutions being targeted.
“These fraudulent activities are circumventing risk and evidentiary requirements, undermining the integrity of the student visa program,” the statement by DHA read.
Elsewhere, it noted that some bodies are promoting the recent September 2025 evidence level update as evidence that Australia’s student visa program is “open to non-genuine students”. It described this as “an intentional misrepresentation of the evidence level framework, and education provider obligations”.
DHA also raised concerns about some education agents being incentivised by some education providers “to facilitate applications regardless of supporting documentation to drive demand for their institution, irrespective of the long-term effect on their attrition/retention rates”.
It said that these factors are “noted, but not limited to, South Asian markets, which are showing current growth”.
Considering these emerging trends, it is essential that education providers are focused on maintaining the integrity of the student visa program
Department of Home Affairs
“Considering these emerging trends, it is essential that education providers are focused on maintaining the integrity of the student visa program. Maintaining visa integrity protects students, institutions, and the longterm reputation of Australia’s education sector,” the DHA said in a statement.
It went on to remind providers of their responsibilities in managing compliance and said that the integrity of Australia’s student visa program “is the responsibility of all relevant parties in the international education sector”.
The department warned that failure to take timely action could have serious consequences for providers, including negatively impacting their own education provider risk level, reputational damage and causing potential restrictions on recruitment in key markets.
A number of new tools have been introduced by the sector in recent months in an attempt to combat fraud, including the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI) announcing its new student document verification tool. The organisation said that the tool, set to launch by year’s end, comes amid ongoing concerns over document fraud among Indian students and will tackle the issue by providing a secure, one-click verification system for multiple key documents.
The tool has been presented to Home Affairs in New Delhi and will soon be offered to key stakeholders – including Australian universities, their compliance teams, and peak bodies – through live demonstrations.
Also entering the space is UniReady Global, which recently launched an AI-driven admissions verification platform. Under the model, students fund their own verification, removing institutional overheads.
The company said the move responds to recent visa integrity warnings from the department and reports of fraudulent confirmation of enrolment issuances. “Manual checking processes remain slow, inconsistent, and prone to human error, leaving institutions exposed to reputational, compliance, and visa-risk consequences,” the organisation said in a statement.
The news comes as the federal government continues its “managed growth” approach and pursues a series of reforms to strengthen integrity across the international education sector.
Among changes on the horizon is tighter oversight of education agents, with the government looking to broadening the legal definition of who qualifies as an agent and introducing new transparency requirements around commissions and payments.
The legislation looks to enable the banning of commissions to education agents for onshore student transfers – a measure that has been widely debated in the sector.
