Processing glitches and doubts about students¡¯ intentions have been blamed for a spike in visa rejections by Australian bureaucrats.

Education agents who say their clients are rarely denied visas are reporting a surge in refusals, as immigration officials struggle to cope with burgeoning applications from South Asia.

The problem partly reflects a lack of local knowledge among processing staff, as Indian-based authorities cope with a logjam of applications by seeking help from immigration offices elsewhere in the world,?Times ÖйúAƬ?has been told.

But agents are also blaming the over-zealous application of Australia¡¯s?genuine temporary entrant?(GTE) test, which requires processing staff to reject visa applications from people suspected of harbouring aspirations to settle permanently.

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Ravi Lochan Singh, president of the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI), said authorities used the ¡°statement of purpose¡± ¨C which visa applicants are required to submit as proof of their intention to leave Australia ¨C ¡°to find reasons to refuse a visa¡±.

He told an AAERI forum that agencies had received visa refusals ¡°left, right and centre on GTE grounds¡± over the previous 15 days.

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Mr Singh said students enrolled with universities approved for ¡°streamlined visa processing¡± were also being asked for detailed financial documentation, even though such evidence was not required from people attending these institutions.

¡°Students are being asked to provide three-year financials [and a] one-year itemised bank statement,¡± he said. ¡°Even my mortgage broker doesn¡¯t ask me for an itemised bank statement.¡±

The?Illawarra Mercury??that around 80 South Asian students, many enrolled with the University of Wollongong, had been refused visas. They included an engineering undergraduate who had completed almost a semester of online study before receiving his refusal letter this month.

¡°The letter said that the government couldn¡¯t be sure if I would go back to my home country after the degree, even though I provided all documentation they asked for,¡± he was quoted as saying.

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Other students said they had provided proof of strong ties and family businesses back home. A Pakistani applicant said he had submitted a financial statement showing assets of more than A$60,000 (?34,000) but had been rejected because of his country¡¯s economic and political situation. ¡°They said they were not convinced that I would choose employment in Pakistan over Australia and hence wouldn¡¯t go back.¡±

Simon Jacobs, South Asia sales director with private education chain Navitas, said Australian visa processing had improved over the past five months. But ¡°strange visa refusals that don¡¯t seem to make any sense¡± remained commonplace, he told the Australian International Education Conference.

He said he suspected that officials were trying to ¡°keep on top of processing times¡± as the application backlog grew.

Navitas¡¯ general manager of marketing and sales, Neil Fitzroy, said he anticipated more ¡°spurious¡± rejections over the next few months, with ¡°genuine students getting caught up in the surge¡±.

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Federal Labor member of parliament Julian Hill, a former executive director of international education in the Victorian state government, said he sympathised with immigration officials following the ¡°irresponsible decision¡± to?uncap work rights?for current students.

¡°I don¡¯t envy the task they¡¯re going to have now, with a tsunami of applications, in sorting the wheat from the chaff ¨C identifying the dodgy applications from the genuine ones,¡± he told?THE.

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com