Study in Australia Guide

Know all about Australia Student Visa

The students from abroad who wish to study in Australia needs an Australian student visa. These student visas are temporary visas provided by the Australian government for the overseas students to study in any recognized educational institute in the country during a specific period of time.

 

Types of Australian Student Visa

 

The Australian student visa has ten sub classes depending on the education sector. They are:

 

Higher Education Sector Visa (Subclass 573): This visa enables the applicant to study a full-time higher education course in Australia.

 

Postgraduate Research Sector Visa (Subclass 574): This visa allows the applicants to stay in Australia to do postgraduate research.

 

Non Award Sector Visa (Subclass 575): This visa enables the candidate to stay in Australia to study either a full-time non-award foundation studies course or course or components of a course that doesn’t lead to an award.

 

Training and Research Visa (Subclass 402): The visa allows the applicant to take part in the structured work-place training to enhance the skills required for his/her current job (Occupational Trainee Stream), take part in professional development training programme in Australia on invitation (Professional Development Stream) and take part in Australian research project (Research Stream).

 

Student Guardian Visa (Subclass 580): The visa allows the applicant to stay as the guardian of an international student under the age of 18 years studying in an Australian University on student visa. In some exceptional cases, the applicant can stay as the guardian of an international student under the age of 18 years studying in an Australian University on student visa.

 

Special Category Visa (Subclass 444):  This visa enables the citizens of New Zealand to study, work, visit and stay in Australia.

 

Foreign Affairs or Defence Sector Visa (Subclass 576): This visa allows the applicant to stay and undertake full-time study in Australia.

 

Independent ELICOS Sector Visa (Subclass 570): This visa allows the applicant to stay in Australia to study a full-time English Language Intensive Course for Overseas Students (ELICOS).

 

Schools Sector Visa (Subclass 571): This visa enables the applicant to stay in Australia and study a full-time school course.

 

Vocational Education and Training Sector Visa (Subclass 572): This visa enables the applicant to stay in Australia and study a full-time vocational education and training course.

 

Visitor Visa (Sub classes 600, 601, 651): To apply for the Visitor Visa, the applicant must undertake a course with maximum three months of study, meet character and health requirements and have sufficient money to support him/her to stay in Australia 

 

Working Holiday Visa (Subclass 417): To apply for the Working Holiday Visa, the applicant must undertake a course with maximum four months of study, must be aged between 18 and 30 years and must have sufficient money to support him/her to stay in Australia 

 

How to apply for Australian Student Visa?

 

The student visa for Australia can be applied online. In order to start the application process, you must create an ImmiAccount. Fill up the application form that is available online. You must provide as much information as possible in the application form. Incomplete applications will take more time for processing. For the completion of the application form, you must attach the supporting documents. The documents for each subclass are different.

 

Tracking and managing your application

The ImmiAccount will help you to:

a)  Save and continue your application process

b)  Upload supporting documents

c)  Update passport details

d)  Change your email and contact address

e)  Track the progress of your application

Once you start your online application, you will get a Transaction Reference Number (TRN). TRN is a unique number assigned to each online application. You need this number to:

a)  Manage and track your application form

b)  Identify the application form when communicating with the visa officials

c)  Check the visa entitlements

 

Australian Student Visa Application Checklist

 

Student Visa Application Fee

Source: Australian Government Department of Immigration and Border Protection

Student Visa Assessment Levels

Assessment level is the key tool that determines the visa application approval on individual merits. Assessment level 1 indicates lowest immigration risk and assessment level 3 indicates highest immigration risk. The higher the assessment risk, the applicant has to submit more documents to claim visa.

Australian Student Visa Processing Time

The Australian student visa processing times are given below. Usually, more than 75% of the visa applications are processed within this period of time. The visa processing time of the student guardian is based on the assessment level of the nominating student.

Work permission

You need to provide sufficient proof of financial capacity to support your stay in Australia while applying for student visa. The work permission is just to give more exposure to the candidate. Hence, don’t rely on the work permit to support your stay. The students of subclass 570-576 have work permit issued along with their visa. However, the candidates and guardians with student visa are not allowed to work for more than 40 hours. The student and guardian should not start working before the commencement of the course in Australia.

 

Visa denial

The Australian Student Visa could be denied because of various reasons:

a) You have not provided enough information to support your visa application

b)  You did not meet Australia’s character and health requirements

c)  You gave wrong information or false claims in the visa application

d) You have not met the conditions of a previous visa