Family visas for foreign students targeted in migration crackdown

International students would effectively be banned from bringing family members to Australia under a long-awaited overhaul of the immigration system, to be unveiled by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke tomorrow.

In a speech entitled: "The work of managing the migration program: who arrives, who stays, who leaves", Mr Burke will outline changes to try to ensure the government meets its target of reducing net overseas migration (NOM) from 300,000 to 225,000 by 2028.

Mr Burke had planned to announce the policy six weeks ago but was forced to abruptly postpone the National Press Club (NPC) address because of a disagreement between ministers weighing competing priorities.

The ABC understands the reworked plan was endorsed by Cabinet's Expenditure Review Committee this week ahead of the rescheduled NPC address on Thursday.

The government plans to bring down the NOM by cutting the number of temporary visas, which has risen to three million, ensure migrants leave Australia once their visas have expired (to prevent so-called "visa hopping") and curb their ability to claim protection.

While international student numbers are expected to be left untouched, the ABC has been told they will effectively lose the ability to bring their families to Australia under the crackdown.

Last financial year, 337,427 student visas were granted and of those, 45,991 were secondary applicants, classed as dependents or family.

Labor's plan has some similarities to One Nation's migration policy, released this week, which included a crackdown on family visas for both students and skilled migrants.

It is unclear whether the government will also target the families of skilled migrants, but Mr Burke recently used his powers to dramatically slow down the processing of skilled and family visas lodged by applicants offshore.

Ahead of the announcement on Thursday, Mr Burke told Question Time he would like to implement Labor's planned overhaul via legislation but will pursue other "levers" if he could not get parliamentary support.

"Since the Hawke and Howard years, a whole lot of our immigration system has been demand-driven, and processing speeds is one of the only things, with planning levels, we currently have available," Mr Burke told Question Time today.

"The more tools that are available, the better we can target the system.

"The best form of outcome there will be if we are able to sort our way through for a legislative option. In the absence of that, there are still more levers the government will be able to use, and I'll be making those announcements tomorrow."

Changes expected to bridging visas

To address a blowout in bridging visas, the government has also been considering removing the work rights of temporary migrants whose claims for protection have been rejected by Home Affairs. 

An average of 1,580 claims for protection are being lodged onshore every month, mostly by people from China, India and Malaysia who have come to Australia on a student or visitor visa.

About 90 per cent of those claims are rejected, but applicants have the right to appeal the rulings through the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) and the Federal Court, a process that regularly takes up to eight years.

During that time, a person is placed on a bridging visa allowing them to stay in the community and work, prompting government concerns some are simply "gaming the system".

Labor had also been considering changing the favourable treatment of British backpackers to make the scheme less attractive before the prime minister intervened and ruled out any move that could breach the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries.

Under pressure to bring down overseas arrivals, Mr Burke has already made sweeping changes to the migration system, pausing or slowing down the processing of working holiday maker visas in July, and reprioritising the processing of skilled visas.

The changes, under Ministerial Direction 119, mean any worker applying for a skilled visa from overseas is now at the back of the queue, pushing visa wait times from days to over a year in some cases.