This article reports on the increase of Middle Eastern students in universities in Australia and New Zealand because of difficulties in getting visas for the United States and Britain. Difficulties in securing visas, combined with more aggressive recruiting by higher-education institutions in New Zealand and Australia, have led a growing number of Middle Eastern students to study in the South Pacific. The change has been swift. In 2002, New Zealand's eight universities enrolled fewer than 50 Middle Eastern students. Today some 1,800 students from Saudi Arabia alone are enrolled at those institutions. Most are there to study English, but about one in five is enrolled in a full-time degree program. Over the past four years, Australia's 40 universities have seen their Middle Eastern enrollments almost triple, to 7,000, making Australia the third-largest destination for students from the region, according to government figures. The most obvious catalyst for this growth has been the unprecedented level of scrutiny that international students coming to Britain and United States now face.