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Fact Sheet 50 - Overseas Students in Australia

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The student visa program of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship enables overseas students to come to Australia to undertake full-time study in registered courses.

The program streamlines the processing of applicants and ensures:

These visa arrangements are designed to assist growth in the number of genuine full-time students coming to Australia and the overall quality of Australia's student visa program.

Eligibility

Before applying for a student visa, students must have been accepted for full-time study in a registered course in Australia.

A registered course is an education or training course offered by an Australian education provider registered to offer courses to overseas students on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS).
See: CRICOS

Applying for a student visa

Students must apply for a visa in the sector that relates to their principal or main course of study:

All overseas students should apply for their first student visa outside Australia. Generally only ‘Assessment Level’ (AL) 1 students would be eligible for visa grant if they apply in Australia. Other students would only be eligible for their first student visa in Australia in exceptional cases.

Students who wish to change their principal course of study must apply for a new visa in the education sector appropriate to their new principal course, if the new course is in a different education sector.

Assessment factors

Students must provide evidence that satisfies the assessment criteria applicable to them before they can be granted a student visa. This includes evidence that they have sufficient financial capacity to cover living costs in Australia, tuition fees and travel costs as well as the ability to support any family members. Applicants must also satisfy criteria in respect of English proficiency, potential to breach visa conditions and other matters such as level of education.

The evidentiary requirements for these criteria differ according to the AL assigned to each sector and nationality. AL1 represents the lowest immigration risk and AL5 the highest.

All students and accompanying family members must be of good character and sound health and hold Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC). Students from Norway and Sweden may not need OSHC if they have acceptable health cover offered by those countries.

‘Packaging’ courses

Students in all subclasses and assessment levels may ‘package’ their studies so they combine a preliminary course with their principal course of study.
Example: Students may take a short English language course before their main course.

Visa conditions

Permission to work

Permission to work arrangements for student visa holders have changed. Student visas granted to students and their dependent family members on or after 26 April 2008 already have Permission to Work automatically included with their visa.
See: New permission to work arrangement for student visa holders (58KB PDF file)

Students and dependent family members who were granted a student visa before 26 April 2008 and have not yet applied for Permission to Work, may only apply for Permission to Work after they have started their course in Australia.
See: How to Apply for Permission to Work

Students with permission to work are limited to 20 hours work per week while their course is in session and may not undertake work until they have started their course in Australia. They may work full–time during formal holiday periods.

Student visa holders found to be working in excess of their limited work rights are subject to mandatory visa cancellation.

Family members' permission to work

Family members of students who have permission to work may work up to 20 hours per week. They cannot undertake work until the student has started their course in Australia.

Family members of students who have commenced a Masters or Doctorate degree may work unlimited hours if they have permission to work.

No extension of stay

Most AL3 and all AL4 students (except those in the Schools sector) undertaking a course, or courses, of 10 months duration or less, are subject to a ‘no further stay’ condition. This generally prevents them from extending their stay in Australia, although they may apply for a subclass 497 (Graduate-Skilled) visa or a student visa with permission to work.

If an AL3 student provides evidence of funds to cover a further 12-month stay, the ‘no further stay’ condition is no longer mandatory.

Students who are sponsored by the Commonwealth of Australia or the government of their home country may also be subject to a ‘no further stay’ condition. They will only be able to extend their studies in Australia if the sponsoring government gives written consent.

Change of address

Students must inform their education provider of their current residential address within seven days of arrival and of any change of address in Australia within seven days of the change. Students must also notify their current provider of any change of enrolment to a new provider.

Family members

Family members aged 18 years or over may only study for up to three months. If they wish to undertake a course of study that exceeds three months, they must apply for a student visa in their own right.

School age family members (aged 5 -18 years) who join the student in Australia for more than three months must attend school. The student must meet any associated education or tuition costs.

A student’s child aged 18 years or over cannot apply for a student visa as a family member. If they wish to study in Australia, they must apply for a student visa in their own right.

Student Guardian visa

If a student is under 18 years of age, it is possible for one of their parents or relatives to apply for a Student Guardian visa to accompany them to Australia. The Student Guardian visa allows that person to stay in Australia to care for the student until they turn 18. It is not possible for a student guardian to work while in Australia.

Internet applications

The Australian Government now offers a flexible visa application alternative called eVisa. It allows convenient electronic lodgement of applications 24 hours a day.

AL1 students outside Australia can apply for a student visa using eVisa providing they are at least six years of age and are applying no more than four months (124 days) before the commencement of their course.

Some temporary resident visa holders who are in Australia and who are AL1 can apply for a student visa using eVisa. Student visa holders who are in Australia may apply for permission to work using eVisa, as well as another student visa to extend their stay.

Applicants must hold a valid passport, a confirmation of enrolment from a registered Australian education provider and be able to pay the visa application charge by an acceptable credit card. If a visa is granted, a confirmation email will be sent detailing applicable visa conditions.

The department is currently running an eVisa trial for AL 2-4 students and accompanying family members who hold an India, People's Republic of China (PRC), Indonesian or Thailand passport and are in those countries.

Direct Internet lodgement by AL 2-4 students is not available. Access to the new facility is restricted to education agents in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), India and Thailand who are party to a valid Facility Access Agreement with the department.
See: www.immi.gov.au/e_visa/students.htm

Statistics

A total of 228 592 student visas were granted in 2006-07. This figure does not include Permission to Work or Student Guardian visas. This represents a significant increase of 19.89 per cent over the 2005-06 figure of 190 674 visas and is an encouraging trend for Australia's international education sector.

There were 167 129 offshore student visas granted in 2006-07, an increase of 29.38 per cent compared with 2005-06. During the same period, the number of onshore student visas granted decreased by 0.06 per cent from 61 499 to 61 463 (not including visas granted for Permission to Work, or to allow students to change provider).

The following table outlines major source countries for overseas students:

Countries 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
India 10 000 15 396 28 949
China, People's Republic of 17 506 15 877 24 915
Korea, Republic of 9328 11 657 12 910
United States of America 10 367 9635 9289
Malaysia 6609 6446 7175
Thailand 4818 5391 5986
Indonesia 4751 5059 5403
Brazil 3118 4439 5223
Japan 5829 5406 4806
Hong Kong 4838 4561 4609

 

Further information is available on the department's web site.
See: www.immi.gov.au

The department also operates a national telephone service inquiry line.
Telephone: 131 881
Hours of operation: Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm (recorded information available outside these hours) for the cost of a local call anywhere in Australia.

Fact Sheet 50. Produced by the National Communications Branch, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Canberra.
Revised 26 April 2008.

© Commonwealth of Australia 2007.