Australia has reassigned India and three neighboring countries to its most stringent student visa assessment category.
Effective January 8, 2026, the Department of Home Affairs has moved India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan to Evidence Level 3 within the Simplified Student Visa Framework. This adjustment, made outside the normal review cycle, significantly increases the documentation requirements for prospective students from these nations.
They must now provide more comprehensive evidence of financial capacity, English proficiency, and sincere intention to study. This will involve manual bank statement checks, potential verification calls to institutions, and increased authority for visa officers to require interviews or further proof.
The reclassification follows a noted increase in “emerging integrity risks,” including fabricated financial and academic records.
However, these four countries represented close to a third of all new student enrollments in 2025.
With this change, average visa processing durations are anticipated to increase further. Education advisors are cautioning universities to prepare for increased rejection rates and to consider flexible intake schedules to accommodate delays. Businesses that recruit from the pool of graduates on post-study work visas should also anticipate longer waiting periods.
For companies managing international assignments, the shift means reduced certainty in securing visas for accompanying family members of employees from these countries. Recommendations include submitting applications early with certified financial documents, strengthening genuine temporary entrant (GTE) statements and building extra buffer time into degree start dates.
Educational institutions are arranging enhanced pre-departure sessions to set realistic expectations and minimise programme switching.
While authorities state the measures target systematic fraud and not legitimate applicants, the university sector is advocating for a pilot programme that would permit accredited, low-risk education providers to expedite processing for verified students from Level 3 countries.
Currently, however, students and employers must contend with a more rigorous and prolonged application process until compliance issues are addressed.
