Why are international students even allowed to work in Australia?

GayHomoSapien: Why are international students even allowed to work in Australia?
If international students are so keen to study in Australia, then they should be studying full time and not working. If they need experience, then they can do volunteer work. Paid work should be accessible by local students like me and other Australian citizens who pay taxes and serve the country. If international students think they are poor, then they should just go back to their country and get a job there. They come to our county and take away our jobs, and the government suffers nothing. It is the local students who suffer the most, because the unemployment rate is high in Australia and many local residents are getting up at 5am in the morning to earn $ 10 an hour.

Answers and Views:

Answer by pvevans
It’s no better in America. Suck it up.

Answer by Hepalopala
They have to pay for food, water and electricity somehow.

Answer by Tony A
Thanks for answering my question, I plan to pay taxes and permanently live in Australia, in my case I would need a job to get a home and pay my bills so maybe thats why

Answer by Jacob
Well it also works both ways there are reciprocal agreements. Australian uni students who wish to undertake an exchange or study abroad are also allowed to work 20 hours to help pay for daily living expenses in other countries including the U.S where the unemployment happens to be even higher.

The fact is international students actually provide a large amount of revenue for university’s in order to provide their services to students. Yes the government does provide significant funding as well but intl students is like the icing on the cake in regards to funding. It is more harder for international students to find employment than our domestic students as they are only here for a short period of time.

Think about often have you had someone at the checkout at Woolworth’s serve you that was from Europe or America

Answer by coreil10
International students on student visas have to study full time. They often work in addition to their full time studies. Contrary to your belief, they are not taking jobs away from Australians. Generally, international students work jobs in restaurants, cafes, bars etc because this fits in best with their studies. There is no shortage of these jobs whether you are an Australian or from overseas, even in the current “financial crisis”, it only took me a week to find a job in a cafe when I decided to start looking for work. Also, the unemployment rate is not really high.

Australian citizens receive youth allowance or Austudy from the government when they study full time. This amount is small, but it always covered my living expenses. And unlike International students, Australian university students defer their university fees on the HECS system, which makes the cost of education affordable to all. International students do not receive youth allowance and have to pay university fees upfront. In addition to this, their fees are about twice the fee Australian students pay. Therefore they have to fund their studies themselves somehow, and actually a lot of out educational institutions rely heavily on international students because they are paying the institution higher fees and they are paying these fees upfront.

Where are you getting you information from exactly? I hope that it is a credible, reliable source and not just “cos my friend told me this so it must be true”, or even worse “I heard it on Today Tonight, so it must be true”.

Honestly, try and focus on a problem that exists.

Answer by Yellow Alarm Clock
An international student is probably contributing more to the economy by studying here (and paying full fees) than you are in paying taxes. From the sound of it, you probably don’t earn much over the tax free threshold anyway.

Answer by Ozmaniac
International students pay extremely high fees that are a very important source of non-government funding for our universities. Without the fees of international students, there would be fewer university courses, facilities and staff or all Australians would have to pay higher taxes to make up the shortfall. If international students were not allowed to work at all, they simply wouldn’t come here to study and our universities and overall economy would suffer.

International students must study full time and are allowed to work for up to 20 hours per week while their course is in session and unlimited hours during uni vacations. When they work, they pay taxes and spend the money they earn in the community so that everyone benefits. No student I know (local or international) has ever had any trouble finding work and neither do the working holiday makers who come here every year – there’s plenty of casual work around for people who are willing to work and don’t believe that the world owes them a living. If you haven’t been able to find a decent job, blame yourself; not other people.

Answer by scat
I agree with you in part. The funding provided by international students is minimal in the scheme of things. If you were to remove the now obligatory “International Student” support department – and the costs associated with this (staff etc) that would equal about 95% of the fee income brought in by the international students. The other % is given to union services. (USyd is my basis to this statement). So that belief that their fees are important to the university is really an oxymoron.

The vast majority of international students are going to the types of “colleges” no Australian would even know about let alone consider going to – and their income is almost entirely from those international students. If they all had to close – I doubt whether any Australian student would care (or any Australian).

IMHO – universities in Australia should reduce their international intake and reduce their local intake, get rid of the highly specialized degrees which sound good and interesting but have no job value. Only the best of the best high school students should go to university.

Answer by Mr Warrior
The international student contributes to the economy.

They also create jobs in the education area, in regards to teachers etc.

They may take one job for themselves, to support their studies.
But in return they create several employment opportunites for Australians. Such as the person who educates them, the person who serves them at the local supermarket, the person who sells them a train/bis ticket. Everyday living, just by them being here , creates jobs.

If that international market was not here, there in fact would be LESS jobs for us.

Answer by raff
Totally agree mate there taking over the country

Answer by Felix Felicis
Stop complaining. They come to Australia and they find a way to sustain themselves. I applaud them rather than sit around and have a little cry about how they take ”our” jobs. Why don’t you complain about something legitimate? For instance, the people who are unemployed because they’re too lazy to find themselves a job and live off of our money when they get on the dole for months or years. We pay for them and they don’t do anything to deserve it. A couple of months maybe? Sure. Anymore than 3 is just get ridiculous though.

@raff: You’re an idiot. ”Taking over”? Please. Grow up.