Angelica Felincia has dreamed of studying in Australia since her first year of high school.
"I wanted to experience life outside of Indonesia and see different cultures," she said.
"Australia has many beautiful places, and I feel that I connect with the culture there."
Ms Felincia, who said she enjoyed being around children, found that early childhood education was a "well-regarded and popular field in Australia".
She said her desire to study in Australia had made her give up a place at an Indonesian university.
However, her visa application, which included a 27-page statement on why she wanted to study in Australia, was rejected within a day.
The case officer questioned why she could not pursue her studies in her home country.
"The letter said that my Genuine Student statement did not provide a strong enough reason for studying in Australia."
Department of Home Affairs (DOHA) data shows refusal of student visa applications has hit a decade high, with the rate climbing from 7.9 per cent in June 2016 to 24.2 per cent in June this year.
More than 51 per cent of all student visa applications from Nepal were rejected in 2025-2026, while India saw more than 40 per cent knocked back.
China recorded a rejection rate of 5.8 per cent for the same period.
Nepali applicant Asif Rahim lodged his application in March to study an accounting master's degree in Melbourne but was rejected in April.
He said he witnessed "a massive rejection" among his Nepali friends who also applied at the same time.
Mr Rahim said the department was not satisfied with his study proposal.
"I'm very disappointed with the rejection because I've invested 15 to 16 months preparing everything," he said.
Refusals 'copy-paste'
The refusals were recorded as international students became the centre of discussions around migration cuts in Australia.
Last week, the government shut down a Vocational Education and Training course amid concerns students were using it to maintain their visas rather than for genuine study.
To obtain a student visa, the DOHA website states applicants have to provide a "Genuine Student (GS) requirement", which details a "student's intention to genuinely study in Australia".
But several migration agents questioned how case officers assessed the applications under the GS criteria.
Umar Ashraf, a migration agent at Magpie Consultants, said he understood that the government would refuse a visa when there was a time gap in studies, misalignment of career pathway, or an intention to stay longer than necessary in Australia with the student visa.
But he was confused by many of the offshore application refusals he had seen.
"About 60 to 70 per cent of those refusals, I feel, the department is just throwing it back," he said.
Phu Vu Minh, a migration agent at VisaEnvoy, said the department gave "unreasonable" reasons in their refusal letters, which she said were often "vague".
"It's like copy-paste from one to the other," she said.
"It doesn't … show that the case officer has carefully assessed all the evidence submitted together with the application."
The ABC has reviewed some refusal letters from the department, finding almost identical paragraphs, minor wording changes, and paraphrased sentences used to outline why the assessment points in the applicant's documents were not accepted.
Ms Minh said despite applicants submitting up to 15 pages to address the required points, the GS assessment was "highly subjective to the case officer".
"You may get approval from one case officer, but with the same case [or application] you may get refused by another case officer," she said.
Work Visa Lawyers' Chris Johnston said he had seen a fivefold increase in the number of appeals launched by onshore applicants against refusals in recent months.
He said the "very common patterns" in refusal letters for offshore applicants, who could not appeal, were "concerning".
"When someone pays the money and gets everything ready … the evidence should be considered on its merits," he said, adding applicants had to pay up to $2,500 to apply.
"That's not fair if they [the government] are just refusing because they don't want people to come to Australia."
DOHA said a range of measures had been implemented to "strengthen the integrity and quality of the international education sector and student visa program".
A spokesperson said the action had resulted in "greater scrutiny of applications and higher refusal rates for applications that do not meet visa requirements".
"Student visa applications are assessed on their individual merits against the requirements of Australia's migration legislation," the spokesperson said.
'An easy target'
Ly Tran, an education professor at Deakin University, said there was "a legitimate need to address poor-quality providers, course-hopping, and the misuse of student visas in Australia".
But she said she "would be cautious about a broad 'crackdown' approach".
"There is also a risk that repeated restrictive measures create the impression internationally that Australia is becoming much less welcoming to international students."
She said international students had become "an easy target", with their cohort being one of the largest components of temporary migration.
"My bigger concern is that international students are increasingly being treated as political objects rather than primarily as students and members of our education community," she said.
Luke Sheehy, CEO of Universities Australia, said current student visa processing was having a "detrimental effect" on universities.
"[It's] devastating, particularly for our regional universities and some of our universities in the growth corridor areas of our country," he said.
"It takes years … to engage with the student, go to their country, talk to them … so they can come to Australia and study at our world-class institutions."
