'Silliest Argument': Australian Minister Blasts Yoga Teacher Myth, Cuts Immigration Targets
New Delhi: Australia is tightening immigration norms in ways that will impact Indian applicants, especially student visa seekers and a section of visa holders. The unlikely background for these revisions, announced by Australian home minister Tony Burke last Thursday, is the allegation that the government allowed more yoga teachers into Australia than stone masons, bricklayers or other construction workers.
Speaking to the media at the National Press Club last week, Burke said the "silliest of all" the arguments made about migration was the "endless refrain" that Australia was "bringing in yoga teachers and not construction workers". He said the number of yoga teachers given visas was "zero".
Australian media has debunked claims about yoga teachers, but the 'yoga instructor' entry in a trade arrangement with India from 2022 has of late given the longstanding discussion about immigration wings. The country has announced new visa norms, though not for yoga teachers but largely related to students and some other categories of travellers.
The narrative about yoga teachers solidified during a live broadcast on ABC Radio Sydney involving liberal Australian senator Andrew Bragg and the journalist Hamish Macdonald. While Bragg insisted on highlighting media reports about yoga teacher arrivals in larger numbers than construction workers, Macdonald challenged him to show numbers, which he could not. Bragg then called into question the reliability of the country's immigration data as a whole.
The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, which entered into force in December 2022, allows for the temporary entry of up to 1,800 qualified professional Indian traditionnal chefs and yoga instructors annually.
But the government is hoping the visa rule changes will help it meet revised immigration targets, which progressively lower in coming years. Burke said the net overseas migration targets are 2,45,000 in 2026-27 and 2,25,000 from 2027-28, reports the Indian Express.
Burke said that just under 15,000 construction workers were brought in during the previous year (without specifying which country they came from). However, he was categorical that no yoga teachers arrived in his government's tenure.
On student visas, Burke stressed that not all visa transitions should be considered visa hopping, as often raised in Australian media. Yet he said some changes would be made, since some student visas are extended repeatedly until the visa holder integrates with the local community, making it "absurd" to revoke their visa.
Therefore, the Australian government will in the future expect student visa holders from all countries to "progress up the qualification ladder, such as moving from a bachelor's degree to a master's instead of repeatedly shifting between courses", the Times of India reported Burke as saying in his address on “The Work of Managing the Migration Program: Who Arrives, Who Stays, Who Leaves”.
More than one lakh Indian students go to Australia to study every year, and around 1.6 lakh Chinese students, said the publication. In addition, it said citing Burke that Australia will "no longer generally allow" international students and graduate visa holders to automatically bring family members to the country.
The implication of both sets of changes to visa norms, for students and the refusal to automatically allow family members of visa holders, are being presented by the government of Australia as steps to control visa overstayers and misuse.
"It is absurd," he told the National Press Club, saying it was among the "silliest of all" arguments, as per ABC.
Rules will also be tighter for working holiday visas – commonly acquired by younger immigrants who supply labour for the agricultural sector. A ballot system is being introduced for such cases, who were otherwise permitted to extend their visas beyond the first and second years. The allowed limits are being contracted significantly by the ballot system. For example, the third-year stay earlier allowed 31,000 places to be filled by working holiday visa holders. This is being limited to 5,000 spots via ballot.
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