Information for Education Providers
1 November 2004
On this page
New services for Assessment Level 1 students
From 1 November 2004, Assessment Level (AL) 1 students who are under 18 years of age (but at least 6 years of age) are able to apply for a Student eVisa. AL 1 students can also include accompanying members of their family unit (partner and children under 18 years of age who are unmarried and not in a de facto relationship) in a Student eVisa application lodged outside Australia.
Students cannot apply for an eVisa more than 4 months (124 days) before the commencement of their course. AL 1 students who apply outside Australia will continue to travel to Australia without a visa label.
Electronic lodgement trial for Assessment Level 2-4 applicants in the PRC, India and Thailand
From 1 November 2004, the department is operating an electronic lodgement (eVisa) trial for passport holders from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), India and Thailand for Student visa applicants who are in those countries. Members of the family unit may be included in the student’s application. Students under 18 years of age may also apply.
Access to this Internet based facility is currently restricted to education agents in the PRC, India and Thailand who are party to a valid Facility Access Agreement with the department. Direct electronic lodgement by students in the trial countries is not available.
A list of the agents participating in the trial is available through the Participating Education Agent List. This list will be updated as additional agents are registered in the coming weeks.
See: Participating Education Agent List (240KB PDF file)
The agents in the three trial countries have been selected on the basis of volume and geographical representation.
Training of these agents will be conducted in-country by the department's National Office staff, as follows:
- The PRC: in Beijing on 1 – 4 November; in Shanghai on 5 – 11 November; and in Guangzhou on 12 – 19 November.
- India : in the Mumbai area on 1 – 2 November; and in the New Delhi area on 3 – 10 November.
- Thailand : training will be conducted in Bangkok from 12 – 19 November.
Additional agents who wish to participate in the trial will over time be given the opportunity to join the trial.
Pre-Visa Assessment (PVA) and Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) Arrangements during the trial.
Under policy, PVA arrangements normally apply to student visa applicants who are AL 3 or 4. PVA requires a student to lodge their paper application with the department on the basis of a letter of offer. The department undertakes initial bona fides assessment of the application. If the application is deemed at this point as meeting evidentiary requirements the applicant is advised by the department to proceed with medicals (if not already undertaken), pay fees and obtain confirmation of enrolment. The department then makes a final assessment of the application.
PVA arrangements do not apply to eVisa
A CoE is a mandatory requirement to lodge an eVisa application.
However, there is no obligation on providers to issue CoEs to agents who are participating in the trial. This is a matter for education providers to individually determine. Students may continue to lodge paper applications where providers are not comfortable with issuing a CoE to a participating eVisa trial agent.
PVA arrangements continue to apply to all AL 3-4 students who make a paper application for the time being.
Return to: Information for Education Providers