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Ministerial Direction 111 (MD 111)

By

Tshering Wangchuk

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  • It came into effect on 19 December 2024 replacing the previous Ministerial Direction 107
  • This direction will be used for all new and on hand, unfinalised, offshore Students VISA application priority 
  • It is an instrument which dictates the priorities for offshore students visa processing who are a New Overseas Student Commencements ( NOSCs)

MD 111 Does Not Apply

  • MD 111 will not apply to students who are not identified under NOSC. The following profile are the profiles for which MD 111 will not impact visa processing
    • TAFE 
    • School students 
    • Subsequent entrants where the applicant is a minor 
    • Short term training & exchange students 
    • ELICOS students  
    • Pilot training courses
    • Students in Postgraduate Research Course 
    • Foreign Affairs and Defence Students sponsored by Australian Government
    • Pacific and Timor leste
    • Students in Transnational education arrangements  

Key Points in the MD 111

  • MD 111 defines two priorities under which the offshore student applications will be prioritized
    • High (Priority 1)  – Faster Processing Time         
    • Standard( Priority 2) – Slower Processing Time

Implementation

  • Visa case officers keep an eye on each education provider’s international student visa quota, and slow down the processing of student visa applications when these quotas are close to being reached.
  • Download the indicative allocation for each universities in Australia using this link
  • Once the university exhausts its allocations at an Prioritization threshold of 80%, the visa processing for that university will become Priority 2 (Standard)  
  • What priority 2( means) for the students:
    • Their application will be held for next intakes, and carried over to the next year if the annual allocation is met by the universities, or in the worst case scenario, it will be refused using the instrument MD 106 (Genuine Student Requirement) 

Takeaways

  •  Given this, students should look to apply as fast as possible at the beginning of the year. Falling under the 20% would mean longer processing time or more scrutiny which can result in refusals.
  • Do not apply to popular universities where many apply as the university quotas will be quickly filled and your visa processing will slide into standard ( priority 2)

How early should you apply for visa?

  • Recommended to apply 8 weeks prior to start date ( 2 months) if you know that the university Prioritization Threshold of 80% is NOT FILLED.
  •  Recommended to apply 16 weeks prior to start date (4 months) if you have no idea if the Prioritization Threshold is FILLED.