Australia’s High Commissioner expects fall in Indian students visa applications

CHENNAI - Australia’s High Commissioner to India Peter Varghese on Monday said the visa applications by Indian students would drop in the current year following a series of attacks on them.

“The application for the student’s visa will fall this year. I think that probably reflects a whole number of factors but I think in larger term, we will see a rebuilding of the numbers,” said Peter Varghese on the sidelines of a function in Chennai.

Varghese further said that a slew of measures have been undertaken by the Australian Government to ensure safety to Indian students.

“The government has been taking several measures to address the issue. I believe, we are succeeding in managing it. We have increased police’s resource; we have changed legislation to give police greater power to search, said Varghese.

“We have ensured that perpetrators are brought to justice as soon as possible, we had over 70 arrests of those involved in these attacks and they are being dealt with our court system,” he added.

Over 100 cases of assault and death have been reported since last year in Australia, especially from Melbourne city and its suburb due to radical overtones. (ANI)