Student Visa

A student visa application is an application to study within a particular education sector in Australia. A Student Visa provides you with temporary resident status and is valid for the entire duration of your course. After completion of your studies, you will be required to leave Australia by the date specified in your visa, unless you are making an application for another temporary or permanent residency visa. The legislative requirement requires the student to be a 'genuine applicant for entry and stay as a student'. For all student visa subclasses, all applicants (whether in or outside Australia) must satisfy the Department that the applicant is a 'Genuine Temporary Entrant' and 'Genuine Student' who:

• seeks to enter/stay in Australia temporarily for the purpose of study;
• will abide by visa conditions; and
• will not become an unlawful non-citizen.

Unlike before, student visa have only one subclass, that is Subclass 500 with the option of Higher education sector and Vocational education sector.

Before applying for a Student Visa, you must first be accepted for full time study in a registered course offered at one of Australia's schools, technical colleges or universities. Only education providers registered on CRICOS (Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students) are permitted to offer education or training services to overseas students. Visa is associated to the Confirmation of Enrollment (COE), which identifies starting and ending date of the course. You can combine multiple courses within the same visa, such as a language course and a vocational course.

The application for a student visa is assessed against:

• Students country of passport (assessment level); and
• Principal course of study to be undertaken.

The level of assessment will be applicable to your application on the basis of your passport and kind of course.

The Assessment Level is ranked from 1 to 3 for each country:

• Assessment Level 1 countries have low immigration risk
• Assessment Level 3 represent high immigration risk

Different Assessment Levels will require different documents for Student Visa application for Australia. Generally, the higher the Assessment Level, the more documentation you will need to support your visa application.

Students must undertake a principal course specified by legislative instrument for their subclass of student visa.

English Language Requirement: To ensure students have the best chance of succeeding in their studies, they are required to demonstrate that they have the appropriate English language proficiency for their course.

Work Rights: Australian Student Visa allows you to study and work in Australia. To work you must have a Tax File Number (TFN). This visa allows you to work legally part time (up to 40 hours every 2 weeks) during courses period and full time during course breaks.

Family members (spouse and children) can be included in the application as dependents.
Health Cover: An important requirement of student visa is that you should have adequate Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) while you are studying in Australia.