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I went to UK with student visa in 2007 and my college was suspended by UKBA. Then I have joined a different college and got extended one more year later that college also blacklisted by UKBA. I was not able to complete my studies and then I came back home (India) before expiry of my visa.

I would like to apply Australian student visa after 10 long years.

Shall I hide my UK travel history and show them Indian work experience or explain them the travel history. what would be the chances of approving the visa? Does Australia track visa history of other countries?

I have new passport which doesn't have stamp and people are advising me to hide the travel history.

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Jul 2, 2019 at 13:16
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    The people advising you to hide your travel history. Are they highly successful world travelers?
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Jul 2, 2019 at 14:34

5 Answers 5

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No one here can predict how the Australian visa office will act in a particular case.

Your UK immigration record attaches to you as an individual, not to your passport. Thus, holding a passport without entry or visa stamps is meaningless.

Trying to hide your history is a dangerous and risky tactic. All of us here advise you not to do this. Your best chance is to explain what happened, clearly, truthfully, and with few words, as @Weather Vane models in the comments above.

If you lie or misrepresent anything and you're discovered — because Australia and the UK share immigration and visa data — Australia will have you for deception and will ban you permanently.

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  • The Five Country Conference (FCC) High Value Data Sharing Protocol was designed specifically to share data between Australia and the UK
    – teambob
    Jul 3, 2019 at 3:32
  • @teambob Thanks for the correction. I've amended the Answer.
    – DavidSupportsMonica
    Jul 31, 2019 at 21:08
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As Joe Malt wrote in a comment

The general advice on Travel.SE is to be completely upfront and honest on visa applications. A slightly complicated travel history may cause some difficulty, but if they find out you lied (and the UK and Australia may well share data), it's likely that you'll have much more trouble getting visas in the future.

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  • I request all you have good experience to see such cases and what is the probability of winning in this situation. please adivce.
    – user99628
    Jul 1, 2019 at 15:54
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    Do not divulge any negative information about yourself unless explicitly asked. That is one Golden Rule of dealing with immigration especially when coming from a developing country. Dealing with immigration officials should never be akin to going to the confessional box. They are not there to show mercy to you. Only divulge negative information when explicitly asked. That is not to say you should lie or misrepresent.
    – Augustine of Hippo
    Jul 1, 2019 at 18:01
  • @user 56513 so lying by ommision is fine, until asked then you spill the beans.
    – mega_creamery
    Jul 3, 2019 at 9:28
  • @mega_creamery I wrote in plain English. You may choose to interpret what I wrote as you see fit.
    – Augustine of Hippo
    Jul 3, 2019 at 11:24
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You should not omit it. Yet, you don't need to say which college you went to. You can simply say, "date1 - date2 : UK with student visa" and "date3 - date4 : UK with student visa". If asked, you simply say "I did not complete my studies"

You don't need to say anything about college(s) being blacklisted. They blacklisted the colleges not you. You were the victim obviously.

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  • thanks all for your valuable inputs. if i say i have studied in different colleges but couldn't able to finish the studies they might think i'm not worthwhile so what is the point of granting me visa. if i explain my scenario completely they might think i'm dodgy. dont know how to make my point to visa officer strongly.
    – user99628
    Jul 2, 2019 at 7:36
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    @user99628 The immigration officials are not there to evaluate your worthiness. It is not unusual to drop out of a school and never get your degree for some reason. The officials want to evaluate whether you are going to play by the rules. Don't lie, but you can formulate your story more positively. "I went to study to UK but my program was discontinued so I returned home."
    – Joonas Ilmavirta
    Jul 2, 2019 at 7:44
  • @JoonasIlmavirta thats good point . can you please tell me two to three lines story which i can write my SOP and submit to the university.
    – user99628
    Jul 2, 2019 at 7:50
  • @JoonasIlmavirta how could i explain them for twice. i can say first college programme discontinued and what about second one. please advise a positive story which i can explain them genuinely.
    – user99628
    Jul 2, 2019 at 8:10
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    @user99628 You don't need a story. You went to the UK with a visa, you didn't overstay - all good. The Australian immigration officials will rely on your college to decide whether you are capable of (and likely to) complete the course; the officials just want to know if you are going to play by the rules.
    – Martin Bonner supports Monica
    Jul 2, 2019 at 11:20
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Try a different approach completely: "I had a bad experience with UK schools not meeting my standards of honesty, but am looking forward to a better experience with the well-regarded Australian educational system." Stop acting so guilty and make the true story one that works in your favour :)

(I work at an Australian University, by the way)

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    That is a transparently dishonest approach. Do you really think an immigration officer is going to be impressed by you telling him how good is his country's education system? Or that you have high standards of honesty because you say you do?
    – Oscar Bravo
    Jul 2, 2019 at 14:04
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    I agree that this is a very poor approach. Australian immigration will be wholly uninterested in the quality of your prior education experience, and mentioning its quality is the same as whining "It wasn't my fault." Whining never works. @User99628 You have several times now been given very good suggestions about what information to include, and what information to exclude. Why do you resist them? That you keep asking how to write a good application makes me wonder that your language skills may be insufficient to get through this process.
    – DavidSupportsMonica
    Jul 2, 2019 at 14:38
  • Lovely, mate. Really lovely and pragmatic answer.
    – Edward Aung
    Jul 2, 2019 at 23:45
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As part of the Five Country Conference (FCC) High Value Data Sharing Protocol agreement your data will be shared between Australia, UK, US, NZ and Canada. There are arrangements to share name, biometrics and travel information between those countries

Here is an example of how the process works in the UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/557896/biometric-data-sharing-v7.0.pdf

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    We are familiar with the existence of the Five Eyes agreement, but don't think that specific information about what's shared has ever been made public. Do you have a source or citation to support your assertion that name, biometrics, and travel info are included?
    – DavidSupportsMonica
    Jul 3, 2019 at 3:21

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