Do I have to be enrolled before I apply for a student visa?

You need a valid Confirmation of Enrolment from your education provider by the time the Department decides your application, not necessarily on the day you lodge it. That distinction matters more than it sounds: a Confirmation of Enrolment stops being valid if it is cancelled or if the course finishes, so a long processing wait can undo an application that was complete when it went in. If your circumstances or your course change while you are waiting, tell the Department.

How much money do I have to show for a student visa?

Three things added together: twelve months of living costs, twelve months of your course fees less anything you have already paid, and school fees for any school-age children coming with you. As at August 2026 the living-cost figure is AUD 29,710 for you, AUD 10,394 for a partner and AUD 4,449 for a child, with at least AUD 13,502 a year for each school-age child. There is an alternative: showing that a parent or your partner earned at least AUD 87,856 in the 12 months before you apply, or AUD 102,500 if family are coming with you, proved with an official tax assessment. These amounts are set by the Australian Government and change.

Can I work on a student visa?

Up to 48 hours a fortnight while your course is in session, and without limit during scheduled breaks. If you are doing a Masters by research or a doctorate there is no limit at all, and the same applies to your family. What you cannot do is rely on that work to fund the visa — the Department says plainly that you should not count on working to support yourself, and it wants to see the money before you arrive, not after.

Will wanting permanent residence later count against my student visa?

No, and the Department says so in writing. The Genuine Student requirement, which replaced the old Genuine Temporary Entrant test for applications lodged from 23 March 2024, expressly recognises that genuine students may develop skills Australia needs and may later choose to apply for permanent residence, and that future intentions of that kind do not count against an applicant. What the requirement does ask is that you can show study is the primary reason you are coming, and that you understand what the course and living here actually involve.

Does it matter which university or college I choose?

For how quickly your application is looked at, yes, and almost nobody knows this. Student visa applications lodged from outside Australia are ordered under Ministerial Direction 115, and part of what sets your priority level is how far your education provider has gone through its allocation of new overseas student places. A provider under its threshold puts you in the highest band; one that has reached or passed it puts you lower. Your level is fixed at the moment you lodge and does not change. It is queue position only — the Department states that the Direction is not a cap and does not decide whether a visa is granted or refused — but it is worth checking your provider’s status before you lodge rather than after.

Can I stay and work in Australia after I graduate?

Often, on a Temporary Graduate visa, subclass 485. You generally need to be 35 or under when you apply, to have held a student visa within the last six months, and to have finished your qualification within six months of applying. The age limit rises to under 50 for people using a Masters by research or a doctorate, and for Hong Kong and British National Overseas passport holders. How long you get depends on the qualification: usually two years for a bachelor degree or coursework Masters, three for a research Masters or a doctorate, and 18 months on the vocational stream. It cannot be extended.

Student and graduate · subclass 500 and 485

Coming to study, and staying on afterwards.

A student visa asks you to show that study is your real reason for coming — and the Department says outright that hoping to apply for permanent residence later does not count against you. Most refusals turn on the money or on the written answers, not on the course. Here is what it actually requires, what you have to show, and what a Temporary Graduate visa gives you when you finish.

Talk through a study pathway After you graduate

Coming to visit, or bringing family over instead? That is a visitor visa, and it asks the opposite question.

What does a student visa actually require?

Six things, and only one of them is about your English. The subclass 500 is not a hard visa to qualify for on paper — most refusals turn on the money or on the written answers about why you are coming, rather than on the course.

A confirmed place

You must be enrolled and hold a valid Confirmation of Enrolment when the Department decides your visa — not when you apply. A CoE stops being valid if it is cancelled or the course finishes, which is why a long wait can undo an application that was complete when it was lodged.

To be a genuine student

You answer a set of questions in the application form, 150 words each, in English, about your circumstances, why this course with this provider, and what completing it will do for you. The Department gives more weight to answers with documents behind them. Hoping to apply for permanent residence later does not count against you — it says so itself.

Enough money

Twelve months of course fees, twelve months of living costs for you and anyone coming with you, and school fees for any school-age children. There is an alternative route through a parent’s or partner’s annual income. The figures are below.

English

Usually IELTS Academic 6.0 overall, or 5.5 if your course is packaged with at least 10 weeks of intensive English, or 5.0 with at least 20 weeks. Other approved tests have their own equivalents and some applicants are exempt. Fully at-home or remote-proctored tests are not accepted.

Health cover, health and character

Overseas Student Health Cover for the length of your stay unless you fall into an exemption category, plus the usual health and character requirements for you and anyone applying with you.

And, if you are under 18

Welfare arrangements have to be in place and approved before the visa can be granted. The visa itself is open from age 6.

How much money do you have to show?

Twelve months of living costs, plus twelve months of course fees, plus school fees for any school-age children. The living-cost figures are set by the Australian Government and are the same wherever in Australia you intend to live, which is not the same as what living there will actually cost you.

12-month figures, read from the Department of Home Affairs subclass 500 page on 23 August 2026. They are set by the Australian Government and change — check the figure in force on the day you apply.
For	Amount	Notes
You, the student	AUD 29,710	12 months of living costs
A partner coming with you	AUD 10,394	added to yours
A child coming with you	AUD 4,449	added, per child
Each school-age child	AUD 13,502	schooling, per year, on top of the above

Plus the first 12 months of your course fees, less anything you have already paid and can prove you paid. For a course shorter than 12 months, the whole cost. For a longer one, the total divided across its length.

Does it matter which college or university you pick?

For how quickly your application is looked at, yes — and almost nobody is told this before they enrol. If you apply from outside Australia, part of what sets your place in the queue is how far your education provider has gone through its own allocation of new overseas student places.

Applications lodged from outside Australia on or after 14 November 2025 are ordered under Ministerial Direction 115, which replaced Ministerial Direction 111. It sorts them into three levels, and your level is fixed at the moment you lodge. Applications lodged from inside Australia are not covered by it at all, and the Department aims to assess them in the order they were lodged.

Priority 1

School students, standalone English-language students, non-award and exchange students, TAFE students, recognised pilot training, PhD candidates, government-sponsored and scholarship students, students from the Pacific and Timor-Leste, and anyone whose provider has not yet reached its enrolment threshold.

Priority 2

Higher education and vocational students whose provider has reached 80 per cent of its New Overseas Student Commencement allocation.

Priority 3

Higher education and vocational students whose provider has gone 15 per cent past that allocation.

Two things the Department says about this itself, and both matter. A Ministerial Direction is not a visa cap, and it does not set the criteria for approving or refusing a student visa — your priority level does not make a grant more or less likely, only earlier or later. It publishes a status page so you can check where a provider sits before you commit to it. Read the current student visa processing priorities.

Can you stay and work after you graduate?

Often, on a Temporary Graduate visa. It is the bridge between finishing a course and a skilled or sponsored visa, and it has three hard edges: your age, a six-month window, and the fact that it cannot be extended.

Your age

35 or under on the day you apply. It rises to under 50 if you are using a Masters by research or a doctorate to meet the study requirement, or you hold a Hong Kong or British National Overseas passport.

The window

You must have held a student visa within the last 6 months, and have completed your course within 6 months of applying.

And afterwards

The Department cannot extend this visa. A second one is possible for some graduates of regional institutions who have lived in a regional area, and otherwise the next step is a skilled or sponsored visa.

Indian nationals get longer under the Australia–India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, and Hong Kong and British National Overseas passport holders may stay up to 5 years. Source: Department of Home Affairs, subclass 485, checked 23 August 2026.
What you finished	How long you get
Bachelor degree, including honours	2 years
Masters by coursework, or extended Masters	2 years
Masters by research	3 years
Doctoral degree	3 years
Associate degree, diploma or trade qualification	18 months, and the occupation has to be on the skilled occupation list

Questions people ask first

Studying here, answered plainly.

Worth ten minutes before you pay a deposit.

The course, the provider, what you can show about money, and what you want to do afterwards — because the last one changes which course is worth enrolling in. Jenny will tell you which visa fits and when the honest answer is that it will not be granted as things stand.

About studying here Free visa check

Indicative guidance only, not migration advice. Your details stay private.

Written and checked by Jenny Satya Graha, Registered Migration Agent MARN 0429372. Every requirement, figure and condition on this page was checked against the Department of Home Affairs on 23 August 2026. Criteria, charges and the financial-capacity amounts are set by the Australian Government and change often. Check the Department's own pages for the Student visa and the Temporary Graduate visa to confirm anything above, including the eligibility requirements that apply to you.