What's New for Education Providers
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Student Visa program updates
Join the Student Visa Program update service to receive emails when new information is added to the Studying in Australia section of the department's website.
See: Student Visa program update service
What's new
Student visa checks strengthened
On 20 August 2009, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship announced the strengthening of checks on student visa applications to prevent fraud and ensure students have the financial capacity to live and study in Australia.
See: Student Visa Checks Strengthened
Changes to lodgement location for citizens of Afghanistan and Pakistan
From 1 August 2009 all student visa applications for citizens of Pakistan (living in Pakistan or New Zealand) and citizens of Afghanistan (living in Pakistan, Afghanistan or New Zealand) will be processed by the Adelaide Offshore Student Processing Centre (AOSPC).
Student visa applications lodged from 1 August 2009 will have to be lodged direct to the AOSPC. Student visa applications given to the Australian High Commission in Islamabad on or after 1 August 2009 will not be accepted and will be returned for lodgement direct to the AOSPC.
See:
Adelaide Offshore Student Processing Centre
Changes to processing for student visa applications for citizens of Pakistan and Afghanistan ( 73KB PDF file)
Amendments to the student visa Assessment Levels
From 1 September 2008 new student visa Assessment Levels will come into effect. The changes affect students from 52 countries across various education sectors.
All applications lodged on or after 1 September 2008 will be subject to the new Assessment Levels.
Applicants who have lodged applications before 1 September 2008 will not be affected by these changes. Applications will be assessed at the Assessment Level which was in effect at time of lodgement.
More information on the student visa Assessment Levels, including the Assessment Levels that will be in effect from 1 September 2008, is available.
See: Student Visa Assessment Levels
1 July 2007
Amendments to the Migration Regulations
Under 18 year old students
From 1 July 2007 under Standard 5 of the National Code 2007 education providers who approve welfare arrangements for under 18 year old students will be able to nominate the period for which they will approve the arrangements. As a result, there will be several amendments to the Migration Regulations.
See: Changes to the Migration Regulations relating to under 18 year old students ( 96KB PDF file)
More information on Standard 5 of the National Code 2007 is available on the DEST ESOS website.
See: DEST ESOS website
Change of provider
Student visa condition 8206, which restricts student visa holders from changing education provider within the first 12 months of their principal course of study, will have no effect after 1 July 2007.
Therefore, from 1 July 2007, student visa holders will no longer be required to lodge a change of provider application with the department.
Students intending to change education provider should contact their current education provider for information. In most circumstances the new education provider will be restricted from enrolling a student if they have not completed 6 months of their main course of study for which the visa was granted.
See: Changing courses or education providers
Course progress and attendance
Student visa condition 8202 has been amended to reflect changes to the monitoring of attendance and course progress requirements under Standards 10 and 11 of the National Code 2007. More information on the National Code 2007 is available on the AEI ESOS website.
See: AEI ESOS website
Students will now be required to achieve satisfactory attendance and course progress as determined by their Education Provider.
8 February 2007
Amendment of Gazette Notice specifying alternative English language proficiency tests to IELTS for student visa purposes
From 8 February 2007, the Internet-Based TOEFL (iBT) will be accepted in respect of student visa applications when taken in any of the following 14 countries where the IELTS test is unavailable: Belarus, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Moldova, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda and Uzbekistan.
For clauses in Schedule 5A of the Migration Regulations that specify IELTS scores of 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, and 4.5 for visa purposes, iBT scores of 79, 71, 61 and 45 respectively are now accepted.
To date, there have been two versions of TOEFL available - the Paper-Based Test (PBT) and the Computer-Based Test (CBT), which are also specified in the Gazette Notice.
Note: PBT and CBT scores continue to be acceptable as long as they meet all other requirements.
What's new archive
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22 May 2006
Advice to eEducation providers on reporting overseas students
The guidelines on reporting overseas students have been updated by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and the Department of Education, Science and Training to provide clear advice to education providers on:
- attendance requirements
- reporting student absences
- deferring or suspending studies
- reporting unsatisfactory academic results
See: Reporting breaches of attendance and academic requirements
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28 March 2006
Continuation of IELTS waiver arrangements for Schools Sector applicants
IELTS waiver arrangements which have been in place since April 2004 will continue after 1 April 2006.
See: Continuation of IELTS waiver arrangements for Schools Sector applicants -
16 September 2005
Advice to Education Providers Regarding Federal Court Decision
In a recent judgement, the Federal Magistrates Court found the notice used by education providers to students in breach of student visa obligations to be defective.
See: Advice to Education Providers regarding student visa cancellations -
19 August 2005
Inclusion of Indonesia in the electronic lodgement trial for Assessment Level 2-4 applicants
From 19 August 2005, internet lodgement of student visa applications will be made available to Indonesian citizens who are resident in Indonesia.
See: Electronic Lodgement Trial for Assessment Level 2-4 Applicants
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10 May 2005
IELTS waiver arrangements for Schools Sector students
The second year of the waiver arrangements for applicants from the PRC commenced on 1 April 2005.
For information about the English language proficiency requirements,
See: Schools sector English proficiency test requirement -
1 November 2004
New services for Assessment Level 1 students
Electronic lodgement trial for Assessment Level 2-4 applicants in the PRC, India and Thailand (includes a current list of agents participating in the trial)
PVA arrangements do not apply to eVisa -
24 August 2004
Evaluation of the ESOS act 2000
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