Student Visa Application Assistance

You cannot apply for this visa within Australia if you have one of the following visas:

• Domestic Worker (Temporary) Diplomatic and Consular visa (subclass 426)
• Temporary Work (International Relations) visa (subclass 403) in the Domestic Worker (Diplomatic or consular) stream
• Diplomatic (Temporary) visa (subclass 995) – primary visa holder only. A family member of a Diplomatic (Temporary) visa (subclass 995) can apply for a Student visa in Australia
• Transit visa (subclass 771)
• Visitor visa (subclass 600) in the Sponsored Family stream or in the Approved Destination Status stream

Application Process:

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

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.

Processing time:

Foreign Affairs or Defence Sector

• 75% of applications in 22 days
• 90% of applications in 35 days

Postgraduate Research Sector

• 75% of applications in 56 days
• 90% of applications in 74 days

Non-Award Sector

• 75% of applications in 11 days
• 90% of applications in 21 days

Schools Sector

• 75% of applications in 48 days
• 90% of applications in 74 days

Independent ELICOS Sector

• 75% of applications in 21 days
• 90% of applications in 62 days

Vocational Education and Training Sector

• 75% of applications in 64 days
• 90% of applications in 71 days

Higher Education Sector

• 75% of applications in 18 days
• 90% of applications in 29 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

Other Requirements:

Packaged courses

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

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.

Cost:

The cost of applying for a resident return visa is $575 AUD for the main applicant, unless they are exempt. There is also a charge for each family member who applies for the visa.