SUB CLASS 500 – STUDENT VISA

Visit Australia to participate in a course of study.

With this visa you can

• participate in an eligible course of study in Australia
• travel in and out of Australia
• work up to 40 hours every 2-week period once your course starts

How long you can stay

This is a temporary visa to study up to 5 years. The type of course and its length will determine the length of stay Primary school children enrolled in years 1-4 can only be granted a student visa for a maximum of 2 years.

Stay longer

To continue studying in Australia, you must apply for a new Student visa.

If your Student visa will expire before your graduation you might be eligible for a Visitor visa (subclass 600). You will need a letter from your education provider with the date of your graduation.

If you hold or held a student visa and completed specific qualifications in Australia in the last six months, you might be eligible for a Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485).

If you are a recent engineering graduate of a recognized institution you might be eligible for the Skilled Recognition Graduate visa (subclass 476).

If you want to stay longer for other reasons, you must apply for a new visa that suits your circumstances. Explore your visa options.

Include family

You can include family members when you lodge your visa application. For student visas, your family member is:

• your partner, or
• your or your partner’s dependent child who is unmarried and has not turned 18 years of age.

You must declare your family members in your student visa application even if they do not plan to travel with you to Australia. If you do not do this, your family members will not be eligible for a student visa to join you in Australia.

Your family members can also apply as a subsequent entrant (at a later time, separate from your application) in ImmiAccount.

Family members who apply for the visa must meet our requirements for health and character.

Apply from

You can be in or outside Australia when you apply for the visa and when we decide on your application.

Packaged courses

You will need to give us Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) for each course. The last course you take as part of the course package is your main course of study. We use your main course of study to work out what financial and English language skills evidence you must give us.

If your visa application includes a package of courses, course gaps must be less than two calendar months, unless the first course finishes at the end of the standard academic year and the next course commences at the beginning of the standard academic year.

For example, the academic year generally ends in November and starts again in February the following year, three to four months is an acceptable gap between courses.

Standard visa grant periods apply to packaged courses.

Processing times

We process:

• Foreign Affairs or Defence Sector
  • 75% of applications in 9 days
  • 90% of applications in 23 days
• Postgraduate Research Sector
  • 75% of applications in 77 days
  • 90% of applications in 5 months
• Non-Award Sector
  • 75% of applications in 7 days
  • 90% of applications in 19 days
• Schools Sector
  • 75% of applications in 29 days
  • 90% of applications in 57 days
• Independent ELICOS Sector
  • 75% of applications in 33 days
  • 90% of applications in 60 days
• Vocational Education and Training Sector
  • 75% of applications in 60 days
  • 90% of applications in 76 days
• Higher Education Sector
  • 75% of applications in 15 days
  • 90% of applications in 53 days

Your application can take longer to process if:

• you do not fill it in correctly
• you do not include all the documents we need or we need more information from you
• it takes us time to verify your information

We can’t process your application if you do not pay the correct visa application charge. We will notify you if this is the case.

See more information on Global visa and citizenship processing times

Your obligations

You and your family must meet all visa conditions and follow Australian laws.

See which conditions will and might be attached to this visa.

Travel

You can travel outside Australia and return as many times as you want while the visa is valid.

The time you spend outside Australia does not extend the visa.

Visa label

We will digitally link your visa to your passport. You will not get a label in your passport.