Student Visa

Moving abroad and starting a new life as a student can be an extremely tough, depressing and lonely experience for anyone. Most people leave their families and spouses behind to start afresh, all alone. There is a big solution for that though, a visa that not many people are aware of; the student dependent visa (500).  Student dependent visa is not an individual visa. It is the same subclass as student visa (subclass 500). An international student with a student visa of 12 months or longer is allowed to bring their family members, spouses or their kids of less than 18 years of age to enter the country on a dependent visa. Required documents You must declare your family members in your visa application form in order to be eligible to bring them as dependents on your Australian student visa, even if they are not travelling with you to Australia. If you do not declare all family members in your visa application, they might not be eligible to apply for a dependent visa once you arrive in Australia and there are chances of a refusal. There is an exception for partners. If the primary applicant does not include their partner in the visa application form for the simple reason that they were not in a relationship at the time, they are eligible to apply separately if they can provide substantial evidence to claim the same. Eligibility Criteria for Australian Dependent Student Visas For dependent spouse or partner The dependent must be your spouse (the person you are married to) or de facto partner (including same sex partners) If the dependent is your de facto partner, you must have been living with your partner for at least 12 months, and you must share a genuine and exclusive relationship with your partner (see more about partner visas) For dependent children The dependent child must be your child or that of your partner The child must not be married or engaged to be married or in a de facto relationship The child must be less than 18 years of age and must be still in continuous education (i.e. studying A-levels) If you are including your dependent family members in your original student visa application, then you must include all your family members on your original Form 157A (Application for a student visa). If you are applying for family members to join you after you have started your course in Australia, then you must submit the following documents: Form 919(Nomination of student dependents) Form 157A (Application for a student visa) An original letter from the education provider stating: The course you are studying The duration of the course and the expected date of completion If you are satisfying all course requirements Evidence to prove your relationship with your dependent in the form of legitimately issued birth certificates or marriage certificates Evidence of having enough funds to support your dependents in Australia Evidence of school enrolment for your school-aged dependents Evidence of health insurance for each dependent Rights Granted Under Dependent Student Visa Dependent applicants are allowed to work in Australia. The rights are dependent on the course of study of the student which include: A dependent partner can study in Australia for any course of 3 months or lesser duration For a student pursuing a bachelor’s degree, the dependent partner will be allowed to work up to 40 hours per fortnight For a student pursuing a master’s degree or a doctorate degree or doing research work, the dependent partner will have full and unlimited work rightsAll other conditions can be read here.   6 Steps to follow for the dependent visa application   Download as PDF to access links    

1. High Refusal Rate Most people applying for the Temporary Graduate visa might think of it as an extremely easy process with a guarantee of a visa. Though the truth is that temporary graduate visas have an extremely high refusal rate when compared to many other visas such as student visas and employer sponsored skilled visas. The major reason behind the huge refusal rate is the fact that there is a “time of application” requirement that must be met and if an application is lodged without all the requirements being fulfilled, there is a chance of the application being refused and cannot be repealed even in the event of applying to the Administrative Appeal Tribunal. 2. Importance of applying for the Australian Federal Police Clearance It is a requirement to have an Australian Federal Police (AFN) National Police Check certificate which is less than 12 months old along with your 485 visa application or an evidence that an application has been made to acquire the clearance by including proof of the application been made for the AFP Check. It is also essential to obtain and AFP Check for the secondary applicant (if you have a secondary applicant) along with the primary applicant’s visa application. This applies to secondary applicants who are 16 years or older. 3. Apply for Adequate Health Insurance When an application is being submitted for the 485 visa, it is essential to provide proof that the primary applicant and every other applicant included has adequate health insurance in Australia. You will need to provide any one of the following: A signed letter from a health insurance provider outlining the level and range of health cover A Medicare card or receipt of enrolment with Medicare (if eligible); If you are from a country with a reciprocal health care agreement with Australia and will be eligible for Medicare when you arrive here, evidence of adequate of health insurance, including travel insurance, to cover you until you enrol in Medicare.  If the applicant is a current student, they may provide evidence of their current Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) policy. It is important to note that OSHC policies are only valid at the time of the application because once a decision is made on the application, the applicant ceases to be a student. If a decision is made on the application before the expiration of a person’s OSHC they would be required to arrange health insurance to meet the health requirements of the subclass 485 visa application. Non-OSHC insurance is just normal overseas visitor health cover. Another thing to be noted is that if the applicant’s student visa is still valid and they haven’t applied for OSHC, the case officer will request one from them. 4. Apply Within 6 Months of Finishing Your Course This is a point of great confusion amongst a great number of graduates regarding what determines the start date and the deadline to “apply within 6 months of finishing your course”. The start date is the date on which the results of the course get published or announced which ends up starting the six month period during which you may apply for the Subclass 485 visa. Evidence of the start date can be found or stated in: in a letter addressed to you; on the Internet; in a newspaper; or on the educational institutions bulletin board. 5. English Requirements The primary applicant is required to submit the evidence of their English skills at the time of the application. IELTS, OET, TOEFL, PTE Academic, and CAE results are all accepted. The applicant is free from the requirement if they hold a valid passport from the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, or Ireland. Otherwise, you must provide evidence of your skills at the time of application. Test results must be a maximum of 3 years old on the day of the application, and 5 tests results are accepted. ​

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Not everyone wants to study in the country they’ve grown up in. In fact, there are over 500.000 international students on student visas in Australia (as of April 2018)! Studying overseas allows you not only to gain valuable experience and a highly-regarded qualification but it also allows one to travel and see other parts of the world. But why isn’t combining travel and education as easy as it may sound? When it comes to getting your student visa, the application progress is becoming stricter as the influx of international students has increased greatly in Australia over the years (by 12% this year alone!). But in order to study in Australia you will need a visa. The case officers will either refuse or approve your student visa application based on how strong your student visa application on the following factors: Your financial status Your English proficiency (min. score of 5.5 in IELTS) Your Health status Your character status Student Visas – Proof of financial funds Financial status is quite important because the Department of Home Affairs wants to see that you (and any accompanying family members) will not be destitute for money while staying in Australia. (This also relieves a case officer’s mind with that you will not be forced to work more than is allowed in the work conditions to pay for schooling and amenities as you already have enough financial funds). You can prove your financial capacity by supplying the following Evidence of funds to cover travel to Australia and 12 months’ living, course and (for school aged dependants) schooling costs for the student and accompanying family members Evidence that you meet the annual income requirement (from $60.000) An Acceptance Advice of Secondary Exchange Students (AASES) form (secondary exchange students only) A letter of support from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or Department of Defence Student Visas – Minimum English Test Score English Proficiency is an absolute must with all student visa holders being required to pass the minimum score. The current minimum score is 5.5 in IELTS, 527 in TOEFL (paper based), 46 for TOEFL (internet based), 162 for CAE, 42 for PTE and an A/B on the OET. (If you’re not sure if you should take the PTE or IELTS for student visas, have a look here.) [maxbutton id=”4″ url=”http://migrationcentreofaustralia.com.au/english-language-requirement/” text=”Scores for all tests” ] What Health Insurance do you need? Health Status Government needs to know that you are covered by a health insurance while you are in Australia. You can show this by obtaining an Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) Evidence that you are of good character Character Status is to ensure that no people are coming here that could potentially harm or commit illegal acts in Australia. They are looking for people of good character. Proving that requires police reports and character references from employers, friends and family. Student Visas – FAQs 1) “How old do I have to be?” You need to be at least 6 years of age to obtain this visa (though any student under the age of 18 will need welfare arrangements as set out by the government). 2) “Is this visa expensive to get?” Well, the fee cost is from AUD $560 but I would recommend assuming that it will always cost more when you look into police checks, health checks, testing your English etc. 3) “Can I come here first and then find somewhere to study?” No, you absolutely must have a recognised education institution in Australia that has accepted you to study with them before you can apply for a student visa. 4) “Can I study anywhere I want?” Almost! The institute you apply at must be a recognised education institution. To check if your educational institute is on the list check the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Course for Overseas Student (CRICOS). 5) “How long can I stay if it’s all approved?” You can stay for a period of up to five years depending on how long your course of study is. 6) “Can I bring my Family?” Yes, you and your family can either make a combined application or they can apply to join you later provided that they are declared in student visas applications beforehand or they become a member after your visa was granted (such as a newborn baby). 7) “Do I have to apply while I’m in Australia?” You can apply while you are in Australia or outside Australia. 8) “Can I work while studying?” You are allowed to work in Australia but only when your course officially commences, and then only 40 hours per fortnight as set out in the Work Conditions for student visa holders. Beware that this means that you can also work for example 30 hours in the week 1 and then only 10 hours in week 2. It’s important that you never work more than 40 hours per fortnight. In the first month row, you are working 40 hours per fortnight and no fortnight crosses 40 hours. In the second month, you are working 40 hours per fortnight in week 1 and week 2 but between week 2 and week 3 you are working in fact 50 hours per fortnight. This would be a breach of your visa condition! 9) “My student visa said I need to leave by a certain date but I want to stay longer!” Your student visa is only valid until the date that it expires (check your Visa Grant Letter for that) but if you apply before the expiry date of your current visa, you can sometimes be allowed to stay further for Further study Graduation A Holiday Work Migration If not approved for further stay then sadly you will have to leave before the expiry date of your current visa. 10) “I don’t feel confident applying for this on my own!” We completely understand, this can take a long period to be approved and the paperwork that can be required is exasperating to say the least. That is why people often choose to go with a