International students require a student visa to travel to and from Australia and live in Australia whilst they undertake a full-time course of study.
There are various courses an international student may enrol in, and students post commencement of their studies, generally also have work rights of up to 40 hours per fortnight whilst your course is in session and full-time during holidays or otherwise.
For various reasons, you may wish to continue to study your course in Australia and extend your student visa in Australia.
In this case, you will need to apply for another student 500 visa whilst in Australia.
The student visa allows you to stay in Australia to study full-time in a CRICOS registered course.
You may also wish to use this visa to study in a primary or high school program.
Genuine Temporary Entrant
As an international student, you will need to show that you are a genuine overseas student in Australia who intends to complete their studies, comply with all the student visa conditions and in general return home after the completion of your studies.
Overall Risk Assessment – Applicants’ Country of Passport and Australian Education Provider
Depending on the combination of your country of passport and the Australian education provider, you will need to meet either the Regular requirements
1) English Language score.
2) Finances or Streamlined requirements.
There are different risk ratings that apply to applicants from different countries of passport and different Australian education providers.
English Score
You will need to provide evidence of English Language test score.
If you are completing ELICOS (English language) studies as part of a packaged course, the English score requirement can generally be lower.
You may be exempt from English language testing for example if you hold a passport form certain countries.
Financial Requirement
You will need to provide evidence to meet the financial requirement to undertake studies in Australia. This could be either of the following:
You can be overseas or in Australia when you apply for the student visa extension or a new student visa.
If onshore, you will generally need to hold a substantive visa which is not subject to a “no further stay” condition.
Note: For student visa holders, there may be a one-off ‘grace period of up to 28 days from the expiry date of your previous student visa’, to be able to extend your visa. This ‘grace period’ can only be availed once by a student visa holder.
The student visa extension application is generally lodged online, although paper application may be possible in certain circumstances.
Health Insurance
To obtain a student visa extension, you must provide evidence of adequate health insurance arrangements (OSHC) from one of the relevant providers and this is also an ongoing visa condition.
Student visas present a great opportunity for overseas students to come to Australia and obtain world class qualifications & skills and be eligible to apply for the short term Temporary Graduate Visa (485) to gain work experience or to further explore General Skilled Migration pathway if interested.
Below are the visa pathways available:
This is an excellent visa option for international graduates in Australia which entitles them to full work and living rights anywhere in Australia starting from 18 months to 4 years, depending on the course completed.
International students who have completed their studies in Australia have an advantage over others in applying for skilled migration pathway to Australia.
There are dedicated points allocated for studies completed in Australia, especially if in a regional area in the Points-test criteria for skilled migration.
Additionally, having an Australian tertiary qualification makes it easier to get through the stringent Skills Assessment requirements for occupations in demand.
Found love in Australia? We are happy for you.
If you are married or in a de facto relationship with an Australian citizen, permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen, then your Australian partner may be eligible to sponsor you for permanent residence.
From 18 Mar 2018 onwards, to be eligible for an employer sponsorship visa (TSS), you will need to have a minimum of two years of post-qualification experience in your nominated occupation.
If you have a job offer from an Australian company, it may be possible for them to sponsor you on the temporary skills shortage visa if you meet the eligibility requirements.
Immigration Hotspot is a leading Australian full-service migration and recruitment firm. Having assisted applicants from over 22 countries with their migration to Australia, we are ideally placed to assist you.
Suite 4, Level 1/2 Cramer St, Preston VIC 3072, Australia
+61 3 9402 0654
info@immigrationhotspot.com.au