Ministerial Direction 111: What you need to know

Ministerial Direction 111 (MD111) is the new way of processing international student visa applications and has replaced Ministerial Direction 107. It came into effect on December 19, 2024. MD111 comes after the Labor government last year failed to get up new international student legislation that would cap the number of overseas students an institution could teach per year, in an effort to control tight inner-city rental markets, control overall migration and improve the "quality and integrity" of the higher education system. Controversially, MD111 informally implements the down-voted legislation by slowing visa processing to a particular provider once that provider has reached 80 per cent of its cap number, allocated last year, with the introduction of a new prioritisation process "informed by consultation with the international education sector throughout 2024". Priority 1 – High visa processing will apply to students looking to attend institutions that have not yet hit that 80 per cent number, along with new school students coming from overseas, higher degree by research students, TAFE applicants and students from the Pacific or Timor-Leste. The Priority 2 – Standard process will then apply to students trying to enrol in unis that have reached their 'prioritisation threshold' and other offshore student visa applications. It is considered fairer by the sector, which continuously expressed concern about the previous Ministerial Direction 107, which favoured "low risk, genuine" students who were generally Chinese and applying to prestigious unis in Sydney or Melbourne. Visa applications of students applying to regional universities and all VET providers were slowed under Direction 107 from December 2023 to December 2024. The total intake of overseas higher education students has been limited to 145,000 for this year, in line with 2023 levels, and VET has been allocated 95,000. Related stories: The fallout from Ministerial Direction 107 | Explainer: How the international student cap numbers were decided | National Planning Level: explained Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy said the change was a "commonsense decision." “MD107 has wreaked havoc, stripping billions of dollars from the economy and inflicting incredibly serious financial harm on universities, particularly those in regional and outer suburban areas," he said. “We have called for it to be revoked since June and we strongly support the Albanese Government’s decision to create a more even playing field for universities. “Internationalisation and international students are critically important to our economy, our society and our universities. They never deserved to be positioned as cannon fodder in a political battle over migration and housing. “Declining government investment in higher education teaching and research over the last decade has meant our institutions have become necessarily reliant on international student revenue to fund core business." Regional Universities Network chief executive Alec Webb said the direction is fairer and recognises all unis as high-quality providers. “Ministerial Direction 111, which replaces Ministerial Direction 107, recognises the role that institutional visa processing equity plays in a highly-quality, high-integrity international education system," he said. Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson doesn't agree, and said one flawed process has simply been replaced with another, which has "shifted the goal posts." "We run the risk of confusing the international student market with these constant changes to policy settings," she said. "For too many potential students, it makes Australia look too hard and too unwelcoming as a higher education destination. "Having set targets for each Australian university’s international enrolments for 2025, it makes no sense that prompt Government support in processing visas will only apply to 80 per cent of that target. "We must exercise caution when introducing a new visa policy for international education in the absence of broader structural reform."

Ministerial Direction 111: What you need to know

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Australian Signals Directorate

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Director of Research Centre for Resources Engineering towards Carbon Neutrality

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