1. International students in Australia have been living with the shadow economy of illegal boarding houses to cut down their living expenses.

Shadow Economy: the Silent Emergency

Shadow Economy: the Silent Emergency

2. A typical boarding house that overseas students in NSW live in, where additional bedrooms are built in the middle of the living room, and divided using bed sheets.

Shadow Economy: the Silent Emergency

3. One of the main reasons that drive overseas students to stay in illegal boarding houses is due to the large amount of money they spend on public transportation, as they are ineligible for travel concession.

Shadow Economy: the Silent Emergency

4. International students are perceived as wealthy to the Australian youth. But the truth is, many of them come from societies with lower living costs and income. A majority of them are struggling financially, and use the public transport everyday.

Shadow Economy: the Silent Emergency

5. On several occasions, overseas students purchase concession tickets illegally in order to to minimize their living expenses. However, many of them have been fined.

Shadow Economy: the Silent Emergency

6. In order to improve the situation of their living standards, international students have been signing up for petitions demanding for travel concessional tickets.

Shadow Economy: the Silent Emergency

7. However, the petitions are not enough to raise the government’s awareness regarding the issue, as the number of participants is still substantially low.

Shadow Economy: the Silent Emergency

8. In order to cover their living costs, overseas students often bypass the Visa regulation and work more than 20 hours per week to pay off their living expenses, while accepting meager wages that are way below the national minimum wage.

9. On a busy Friday night, while all the other shops are already closed, international students are still working over-time to make as much money as they can.

Shadow Economy: the Silent Emergency