300 overseas students detained in Australia for violating laws

MELBOURNE: Around 300 overseas students, including Indians, were put into detention centres in Sydney and Melbourne in the past three years after found breaching Australian immigration laws.

According to a report in 'The Australian', it was revealed that in the last three years 299 overseas students were put into the detention centre in Sydney or Melbourne of which most were deported.

University, TAFE and secondary school students from 24 countries were detained and majority of them hailed from India, China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Of the detainees, 207 were held for overstaying their visas, 30 for attendance breaches, 14 for failing their courses, seven for not starting their courses, four for withdrawing from their courses, one for a work breach and 36 for other reasons, the report said.

Senior psychology professor of University of Sydney Christopher Lennings said overseas students could be easily overwhelmed by conditions in Australia, leaving them vulnerable to breaches of migration law.

"People's English is not as good, they get overwhelmed, have financial problems or illness. They get depressed and fail their studies, and next thing they know they are on a roller coaster and have lost control of their lives," he said adding "The trauma period is within a few to 10 days, especially if they don't know how long they would be incarcerated for."

Students who have their visas cancelled -- often for working more than 20 hours a week, for attending less than 80 per cent of scheduled contact hours, for unsatisfactory academic results, for completing a course early, deferring study or transferring to another provider -- become unlawful non-citizens.