Benefits of obtaining an Australian Student Visa and other features

The Australian Student Visa has multiple benefits, aside from allowing you to study in Australia, with a number of underrated, unique features.

Work and Study at the same time

Feeling like you should be doing more with your time, or want to supplement your allowance? Unlike many other study destinations which strictly limit students to only studying in a country, the Australian student visa allows students to undertake part time work as they are studying, within set limits of course.

You are entitled to work 40 hours per fortnight (2 weeks) during your studies (average 20 hours per week) , and an unlimited hours of work during your schools breaks. Based on an average academic year where a student gets approximately a month on winter break and 3months of summer holidays - and coupled with Australia’s minimum wage laws - some casual work in the summer might add up to quite a tidy sum and help to significantly defray your cost of living.

The possibility of working upon graduation with the Temporary Graduate Visa (subclass 485)

Another unique feature of an Australian student visa is how it affords students the options of working after you graduate, barring having met a certain criteria of course. It’s the first step in getting a foot in the door to apply for extended stay in Australia, through formal employment.

Post study work arrangements are generally classified under 2 different schemes: The Graduate work stream and the post study work stream.

• The Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) allows graduates to work in Australia temporarily after they finish their studies. It has two streams: the Graduate Work stream and the Post-Study Work stream.

• The Graduate Work stream is for international students who graduate with skills and qualifications that relate to an occupation considered in demand in the Australian labour market, as indicated in the list of eligible skilled occupations. A visa in this stream is generally granted for 18 months.

• The Post-Study Work stream offers extended options for working in Australia to eligible graduates of a higher education degree. Under this stream, successful applicants are granted a visa with a visa period of two, three or four years’ duration, depending on the highest educational qualification they have obtained.

Include your dependants (a spouse, or your kids)

You can include your family members and/or your partner when lodging your student visa application (Family/ Dependants by definition refers to a family you have started, i.e. a spouse, de facto partner, or your own children, and does not apply in this case to relatives, your parents, etc.) Thus, your spouse and/or children will be able to join you in Australia as dependants on your student visa., and be accorded the same conditions that you get on your student visa. For instance, if you are studying at a Masters Level, your partner will even get full work rights for the duration of your visa.

• Duration of a Student Visa in Australia

For those who are new to the concept of student visas - it can last for any duration of time, but it is mostly pegged to the course duration of a program you have picked. So it can be as short as 6 months to as long as 5 to 6 years, depending on your course(s) of study. (The only exception to this would be for children of a certain age applying into an Australian government school - whereupon a visa would be granted for approximately 2 years of study)

Hence,

1) If you enrol for a 6-month Course, your student visa will be valid for 6 months
2) If you enrol for a 3-year Program, your student visa will be valid for 3 years
3) The program you choose must be between 12 and 52 weeks in order to be eligible for a student visa.

Depending on the length of your course, your visa will be granted with the following additional times once you finish your studies:

1) For courses below 10 months of duration, your visa will extended by 1 month extra.
2) For courses over the 10 month threshold, your visa will be extended by 2 extra months.
3) For courses over 10 months in which the term end date is December, your visa will be extended by 3 extra months

• Cost of a Student Visa in Australia

The current fees in order to apply for a student visa (Subclass 500) are set to $560 AUD. The price is always the same no matter the length of your studies.

Please note that this price may vary depending on the location where you apply for your student visa (Australia or onshore). The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has built a pricing estimator tool to help future applicants to quickly get a price overview of their visa application.

• Renewal of the Student Visa in Australia

You can renew your student visa as many times as you want, as long as you are enrolled in a course approved by CRICOS. However, you need to be advised that if you have had multiple student visas in the past, the Government may question the genuineness of your application.

Lastly, do know that you can get help and be supported in your student visa applications every step of the way. While IDP does not dispense migration advice (you’d have to see a migration agent for that!) we will assist you with that first step towards obtaining a student visa, for all our study destinations in UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Head over to any of our offices or drop us a message to find out more.