Everything between your first application and an Australian passport.

Filtered by your academic band and your stated tuition budget. Indicative only — every program sets its own bar.

English by discipline

Backlogs, gaps & second attempts

February

The main intake. Widest program choice, full scholarship rounds, largest cohort, best casual-job timing (retail hires before Christmas).

Apply: May–October the year before. Lodge visa: by early December.

July

Second major intake. Most postgraduate coursework and business, IT, engineering programs run. Some cohort-based degrees (medicine, some honours) do not.

Apply: October–April. Lodge visa: by early May.

Nov

Offered by trimester providers (Deakin, Swinburne, Torrens, CQU and others). Smaller, faster, fewer electives — useful for catching up or an early start.

Apply: June–September. Lodge visa: by early September.

Deferral

Providers will defer to the next intake for documented reasons. The old CoE is cancelled and a new one issued — if you have already lodged, tell the department immediately.

Visa refused after CoE

Request a refund under the written agreement. Most providers refund tuition less an administration fee where refusal is not due to fraud. Refusal caused by fraudulent documents usually voids the refund entirely.

Changing provider after arrival

Condition 8516 requires you to remain enrolled in a course at the same level. Within the first six months you generally need a release letter from your original provider.

Once studying you must

• Maintain enrolment in a registered course at the same or higher AQF level 8516
• Meet course progress and attendance requirements set by your provider
• Keep OSHC current for your entire stay 8501
• Notify your provider of any address change within 7 days 8533
• Stay within 48 hours of paid work per fortnight while classes are running 8105

1. Financial capacity not established — the largest single category. Funds unexplained, too recent, or held by someone with no relationship to the applicant.
2. Genuine Student requirement not met — course choice doesn't follow from the applicant's history and the answers don't bridge the gap.
3. Document integrity — an altered or fabricated document anywhere in the file. Three-year exclusion.
4. Course progression concerns — moving to a lower AQF level than a qualification already held, without explanation.
5. English or health/character — an expired test, a home-edition test, or an undisclosed criminal matter.

You'll receive written reasons. Read exactly which criterion failed before deciding anything.

• Review: onshore refusals can generally be reviewed at the Administrative Review Tribunal within a strict deadline stated in the letter. Offshore student refusals usually have no merits review.
• Reapply: permitted, but only worth doing if you can fix the finding — new financial evidence, a different course with a coherent rationale, or a corrected disclosure.
• Declare it forever: the refusal must be disclosed in every future application to Australia and to most other countries.
• Get a MARA-registered agent or an immigration lawyer involved before reapplying. Repeating the same file produces the same result.

• Book temporary accommodation for at least two weeks. Do not sign a 12-month lease from overseas, and never transfer a bond to someone you haven't met.
• Print or download the visa grant notice, CoE, offer letter and OSHC certificate.
• Carry no more than A$10,000 cash equivalent, or declare it.
• Check the biosecurity rules — undeclared food, seeds, wooden items and medicines attract on-the-spot fines.
• Bring prescriptions with a doctor's letter for any medication.
• Tell your provider your arrival date and book the airport pickup many universities offer free.

1. SIM card — Telstra, Optus and Vodafone at the airport, or cheaper resellers (Amaysim, Boost, Belong) once you're in the city.
2. Bank account — open online before you land; activate with your passport in a branch. CommBank, ANZ, NAB and Westpac all waive fees for students.
3. Tax File Number — apply free at ato.gov.au. Without it your employer withholds tax at the top rate.
4. Enrol and attend orientation — this is where you get your student card, timetable and, at most universities, the free legal and employment advice service.
5. Register your address with the provider within 7 days 8533.
6. Transport concession — available in VIC, QLD, WA, SA, ACT, TAS and NT. NSW does not offer travel concessions to most international students.

1. Fix the resume format first. Two pages, no photograph, no date of birth, no marital status, no passport number. Australian employers discard resumes with these.
2. Get a TFN and an ABN-free mindset. If an employer asks you to get an ABN for ordinary casual work, that is usually sham contracting — you lose super, leave and minimum-wage protection.
3. Certificates that open doors: RSA (alcohol service), RSG (gaming), White Card (construction sites), Barista course, Food Safety, First Aid. Each is a day and $70–$180.
4. Where the jobs are: Seek, Indeed, your university's careers portal, plus walking into hospitality venues with a printed resume in the mid-afternoon lull.
5. On-campus first. Library, IT help desk, student ambassador, note-taker, research assistant, tutoring. Higher pay, understands your timetable, counts as Australian professional experience.
6. Ask for the award. "Which award and classification am I employed under?" is a normal question. An employer who can't answer it is a warning.

• Minimum wage applies to everyone. Your visa status does not reduce it.
• Casual work attracts a 25% loading; weekends, evenings and public holidays attract penalty rates under most awards.
• A payslip within one working day of being paid, showing hours, rate, tax and super.
• Superannuation at 12% paid to your fund. You can claim it when you leave Australia permanently.
• Unpaid "trials" beyond a brief demonstration are illegal.
• Workers' compensation if you're injured at work.

The 35-year cap has three carve-outs, all up to age 49 and all in the Post-Higher Education Work stream:

• Masters by Research graduates from a CRICOS-registered institution. Masters by coursework does not qualify.
• Doctoral / PhD graduates from a CRICOS-registered institution.
• Hong Kong SAR and British National (Overseas) passport holders, across all streams.

Age is assessed on the date the department receives your application — not the decision date, not your graduation date. At 50 or over there is no pathway.

• You must be in Australia to lodge, and must have held a student visa within the previous six months.
• English is a single in-centre sitting within 12 months. Home editions and combined score reports are rejected.
• Australian Federal Police check must be recent and is often the slowest item — order it before you're ready to lodge.
• No visa hopping: under current rules 485 holders are generally prevented from applying for a new student visa onshore.
• Health insurance is required for the whole 485 period, for you and every dependant — OVHC, not OSHC.
• It's one shot. Use it to gain skilled employment in your nominated occupation, not to keep working the hospitality job.

1. Check eligibility with the department's residence calculator before paying anything.
2. Apply online through ImmiAccount with identity documents, your travel history and police certificates where required. The application charge increased on 1 July 2026 — confirm the current figure.
3. Sit the citizenship test — 20 multiple-choice questions on Australia's democratic beliefs, rights, liberties, history and government, drawn from the official resource booklet. You need 75% overall and all five values questions correct.
4. Interview and document verification at the same appointment.
5. Approval, then a citizenship ceremony where you make the pledge. Most are held by local councils; you must attend within 12 months of approval.
6. Apply for an Australian passport after the ceremony.

Permanent residence

• Live, work and study indefinitely
• Medicare
• Sponsor eligible relatives
• Travel facility expires after 5 years — you need a Resident Return Visa 155 to re-enter after that
• Waiting periods apply to most social security payments
• Cannot vote in federal elections

Citizenship adds

• An Australian passport, with no re-entry conditions ever
• The vote, and jury service
• Eligibility for the public service and the defence force
• Children born overseas can acquire citizenship by descent
• Consular assistance abroad

Realistic timing

A student who starts a two-year masters, takes a two-year 485, then gets PR in the second 485 year is typically looking at five to seven years from arrival to citizenship eligibility — longer if PR takes more than one attempt or a 491 sits in the middle, which adds three regional years before the 191.

• Ask before you enrol. Whether internationals get clinical or professional placements — and whether they're guaranteed — varies by program and is the single biggest hidden risk in health and education degrees.
• Work counted as part of your course is generally exempt from the 48-hour cap, because it is registered on your CoE. Confirm in writing with your provider.
• Professional Year programs in accounting, IT and engineering run 44 weeks, cost roughly $9,000–$12,000, include a 12-week internship, and are worth 5 points.
• Industry-based learning at the technology universities (RMIT, UTS, QUT, Swinburne, Curtin) is a genuine differentiator — several run 6–12 month paid placements.
• Volunteering with a recognised not-for-profit is unpaid and does not count toward the work-hour cap. It builds local references, which is what most graduates actually lack.

1. Graduate programs open in March for the following February start, at large employers, banks, the Big Four, engineering firms and some government departments. Many require citizenship or PR — check before you invest a week in the application.
2. Target the mid-market instead. Firms of 20–200 people hire year-round, sponsor more readily, and interview faster.
3. Australian-format resume, Australian phone number, Australian address. Applications from overseas numbers get filtered.
4. LinkedIn matters here. Most recruiters check it before the interview; a bare profile costs you.
5. Say your work rights plainly. "I hold a 485 with full work rights until [date] and I'm pursuing PR" is a better answer than avoiding the question.
6. Use the university's career service after you graduate — most keep alumni access for 12–24 months, including resume review and employer events.

• Sending money home badly. Bank telegraphic transfers cost 3–5% in spread. Wise, OFX and Remitly are a fraction of that.
• Paying rent weekly in cash. No record, no bond protection, no evidence of rental history when you want a better place.
• Groceries at the convenience end. Aldi, weekend markets and the ethnic grocers near every campus are 30–40% cheaper than the two big chains.
• Textbooks new. Library reserve, older editions, and the student Facebook groups.
• Phone plans on contract. Prepaid resellers on the same networks cost half.
• Not claiming the tax refund. If you earned under $18,200 and had tax withheld, you get all of it back — lodge from 1 July at ato.gov.au, free.
• Leaving super behind. Claim a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment when you leave permanently.

• University hardship grants and emergency loans — every Australian university has them, most are not advertised, and international students are eligible. Ask the student support office directly.
• Food pantries and free breakfast programs run on most campuses through the student association.
• Free legal service at the student union covers tenancy, employment and consumer disputes.
• Counselling is free and confidential at your provider, and does not affect your visa.
• Fee payment plans — providers will usually negotiate rather than report a non-payment. Ask before the due date, not after.

600 Visitor visa

The standard route. Tourist stream for an ordinary visit; Sponsored Family stream where you or a relative sponsors them, which can require a bond but is often approved where a tourist application would not be. Typical grant is 3, 6 or 12 months' stay; some applicants with a strong compliance history receive validity of 18 months, 3 years or 5 years with a stay limit of 12 months in any 18-month period.

870 Sponsored Parent (Temporary)

For long stays: 3 or 5 years at a time, up to a 10-year cumulative maximum. No balance-of-family test — the only parent visa that waives it. The sponsoring child must be an Australian citizen, PR or eligible NZ citizen and meet an income threshold. Two instalments; no work rights; private health insurance required. Processing has been running months rather than years.