00:31:59 · Shawn Silverstone, Martijn van de Veen
[00:31:59] S1: It's huge. I mean, if we learned anything from the, you the pandemic, can't have all your eggs in one basket. So diversification is just something that, especially with the visa rejection rate right now is huge. Given the visa uncertainties in some regions, K-twelve institutions, we gotta like reduce our dependency on a single country and really expand our recruitment efforts in these more stable markets. And some of the emerging markets for, you know, k to 12, you know, if you're looking at Latin America, there's there's a few like, you know, Chile and Colombia and in Europe, you know, looking at France and Switzerland and some of the Nordic countries and in Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Taiwan. And, you know, looking at some of those more stable markets that are continuing to grow for Canada too, like Hong Kong and Macau. This is great demand for K to 12 education right now. So by really diversifying our markets, schools can really reduce the risk of like a sudden enrollment declines due to these visa policy changes or the next wave of a pandemic or anything else that may happen. [00:33:05] S3: Yeah. No. Of course, I think diversification is a great point of advice. And, you know, I'd actually like to conclude this episode, this... Sorry, this main topic with some advice from the three of you for our audience, really saying a few words about the most critical pieces of advice that you would offer to schools, agents and prospective students to navigate the current uncertainties in the international student visa landscape? Michal, may I start with you?
00:33:31 · Michal Sestak
[00:33:31] S0: The advice to schools and agents... Well, advice to agents because I work a lot with agents even though I'm an agent myself. Be professional. Pay attention. Listen. Take your job with the vision that your outcome of your work will change someone's life. Right? As I as I mentioned initially, government sees agents as salesmen. They do actually because I was in Canberra in a meeting with the politicians. It was a committee committee... Parliamentary committee meeting. And the members of the parliament did say, well, agents are salesmen of schools. That's part of the ESOS Act. We have a legislation which governs the operation of schools, that that specific legislation does mention education agents as being salesmen of the schools. Ultimately, that puts all the responsibility on the school itself. So if an agent makes a mistake or if there's a problem, if the agent doesn't refund the money back to the student in case of visa refusal, ultimately, the school is responsible. So that falls back down to schools, and at least in Australia, schools are trying to improve their processes, trying to scan clients as best as they can. But again, who is scanning the clients? Not migration lawyers, not people who are actually writing submissions. That's an admin staff who may be trained, for example, by myself at various schools, but it's hard because we have... Some of my clients have been refused by certain schools. We went to another school because they do know me. They know my work. They let it through. All the business were granted. So the advice really is to work with with agents that you do trust for more than just the sales, but you do trust their processes. Agents who actually put their name on the line, like migration agents, I have to put my name under every single application. That's mandatory. So if I have a lot of refusals, immigration may come and penal ize me, or I may have a problem with extending my license for the next year. Education agents being part of the school's infrastructure in some way as part of the ESOS Act, if they have a problem, no one really cares much. You know, the school will be in trouble, but not the agent him or herself. So it's the whole the whole balance in my view is is wrong. Agents need to take responsibility, but because we have no legislation or registration system, why would they write? Who would force them?
00:36:03 · Michal Sestak, Martijn van de Veen
Ultimately, the schools are the one that needs to, in addition to the education part, which is the primary, should be the primary activity of the school, they also have to look after the army of salesmen, which are placed all over the world. So it puts a lot of pressure on the schools. And I did raise this issue with the government. Look, schools are here to teach, not to be policing their the their agents all over the world. They don't even, they don't understand the culture, they understand, they don't speak the language, you know, be helpful in the processes. [00:36:40] S3: It emphasizes once again, right, Michal, that it's so important to work with reliable, accredited agents in this space, and that also ties in with the regulation from within the industry. Craig, what would you add to that? What are some of these most critical piece of advice that you would offer to our listeners to deal with the uncertainties in the international student visa landscape?
00:37:01 · Craig Riggs
[00:37:01] S4: I think, first of all, it's that uncertainty that, as our discussion reveals, I think is in some ways the primary issue. We all have been very focused on different types of policy settings that have been in focus over the last year, but one of the most important effects of all that, as we've been saying today, is the type of uncertainty and confusion that it creates in the marketplace. And I think that both Michal and Shawn are pointing us to some important steps that both schools and agents can take to try to respond to that uncertainty or to create as much certainty as possible in that environment. And that includes things like really evaluating prospective students and applications very quickly, very carefully, to ensure that as an institution, you're focusing on the students that are best fitted for your institution or school, that have the best chance of success both in their studies and initially in terms of getting indeed a student visa to begin their programs. I think that there are a number of steps that both schools and agents can take in that respect. It begins by, first of all, very well versed in the regulations and the requirements of the process, as Michal has suggested. But I think it also involves working very closely, schools and agents together with their students, to ensure that those applications are as complete and correct and, as they can be and have the best chances of success. We see institutions, taking additional steps as well in terms of engaging additional services, whether those are immigration lawyers or other sort of allied services, or even bringing qualified immigration advisors on staff to provide that additional support for applications for students and for their visa applications in real time. I think that's where we are. Those are all additional steps that need to be taken now to ensure that students have a greater chance of success in the visa process.
00:38:52 · Martijn van de Veen
[00:38:52] S3: Yeah, it's so true. You do need to understand the requirements of the process. We all need to work closely, schools and agents together with their students and ensure that these applications are complete and correct, as you say, and be more professional, to Michal's word. Shawn, what would you add to that in terms of pieces of advice for our audience on this topic?
00:39:11 · Shawn Silverstone
[00:39:11] S1: I think for schools, you know, strengthening visa guidance, and I know a lot of the post secondaries have those visa officers, but I think it's important for K to 12 schools to make sure that they have those people in their school system that are able to give advice and guide them in the right way, and really helping to make streamlined applications. And the biggest thing I'd say for everyone is to really put it on your website, put it as part of your application, make sure you have clear refund policies and make sure you're constantly going back to that and updating it and make sure it's always there for everyone to see. And for our agents, it's really about staying updated on the policy changes. Like Michal indicated, it changes every Monday sometimes, and you really need to be on top of it and you need to improve your documentation quality and manage the family expectations. Having that pre departure, I visited with an agent yesterday and he's doing four pre departure sessions prior to a student even going to the country. I mean, that's unheard of, but I love hearing that type of stuff where they're really connecting with the families and letting them know and setting those expectations. And for the students, yeah, it's about applying early now and it's preparing those strong custodianship documents. And probably most of all, choose a school with a good support system That will really help you to make sure that you're able to have a good application and a successful application sent through to IRCC. And thank you to ICEF for always working with the agents too, and making sure that they're well prepared and having that process that they have to go through. And those are the agents that we're looking to work with too, those vetted agents that basically have had the training. This is something that I think we've spoken about throughout the whole entire process here. It's, you know, everyone just needs to be informed all the time and that's the most important part.