Australia’s assistant minister for immigration and border protection, Alex Hawke, stepped in to address visa delays that struck the international education sector after the introduction of the SSVF in July.
Students from China will be able to obtain a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK within 24 hours, under a 10-week super priority visa pilot scheme.
New Zealand is to take all student visa applications online from late 2013 in a bid to speed up processing and improve customer service. It will be the first service to be delivered through the country's Immigration Global Management System (IGMS) – a new "fit for purpose" IT system aimed at modernising the immigration system by 2015.
