The Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Evans recently announced there were elements of concern within what was a very large caseload requiring targeted measures such as terminating or suspending agents because of evidence of fraud or poor approval rates to protect the interests of all genuine students.

'The Australian government takes allegations of fraud in the student visa program very seriously,' he said.

Last week the Australian government suspended almost 200 agents operating in a number of countries for lodging online student visa applications because of evidence of fraud or poor approval rates.

While most of these agents were operating in Australia, a small number of agents were from India. To regain their access to the online system, agents will now need to 'show cause' for their behaviour. Access arrangements are being reviewed to ensure that online agents meet high standards of performance.