Australia Student Visa Step-by-Step 2018 Process from India & Processing Time

An acknowledgement letter confirming your placement to study in an institute belonging to Commonwealth Register of Institution of Courses (CRICOS) in Australia, is pre-requisite. A COE is a code that you need to fill at the appropriate place in your visa application.

According to Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirement, the candidate must have a genuine intention of staying in Australia. The GET requirement under student visa program helps to identify the students whose motive is to gain quality education.

The following factors are assessed by the decision-makers:

• Situation in your home country: Reason for not studying in home country by providing detailed information
• Economic circumstances: Ties to their home country that support that intention to return once study is complete
• Circumstances in Australia
• Knowledge of your proposed course of study
• Knowledge of education provider
• Proposed course should be linked with previous study
• Value of the course to the applicant’s future
• Is the course consistent with the applicant’s current level of education, relevance to past or proposed future employment in home country?
• Expected remuneration in home country which could be gained using the qualification(s) from the course(s) of study.
• Applicant’s immigration history
• Previous visa applications for Australia or other countries including visa refusals or cancellations.

You may be asked for a telephonic interview to determine whether you fulfil the GTE requirements or not.

You are required to provide the evidence of adequate funds to cover tuition fees, living and travel cost. As of February 2018, the estimate of living cost that you need to present is INR 10,14,500 per year. If you are accompanied by a spouse or dependent children, you need to present that you have sufficient funds to cover their cost of living and school fees. Otherwise, you can show that your next of kin can support you and can earn a minimum of INR 30,00,000 per year.

Being from a non-English speaking country, you also need to provide the evidence that your English proficiency meets a required standard. IELTS and TOEFL are two international standardized tests that are widely accepted to check your English proficiency level. Other tests are IBT, Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic, and Cambridge Advanced English (CAE) etc. The required minimum score for student visa is as follows:

• IELTS overall score:5.5
• TOEFL(paper based): 527
• TOFEL(internet based): 46
• Cambridge English Advance: 162
• Pearson Test of English Academic: 42

English Language exemption: If you fall into one of the following student categories, you are exempt from providing evidence of English language proficiency requirement:

• Student who enrolled in fulltime school studies as a principal course, including secondary
• Exchange program and Foreign Affairs or Defence sponsored students
• Student who have completed their five years study in one or more of the following countries: Australia, UK, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Republic of Ireland
• Citizens of passport holder of one of the following English – speaking countries: UK, USA,Canada, New Zealand or Republic of Ireland

The applicants may be asked to attend a full medical and/or radiological assessment to ensure that they are in good health. This applies to all applicants who areapplied for visa application for Australia. The applicant can book the appointment from the approved doctor by Immigration Department or when Department asked to do so, the applicant must book an appointment with Australian Immigration Department approved doctor.

OSHC requirement: All students are required to obtain Oversees Student Health Cover (OSHC). This is a type of health cover which is analogous to Medicare for Australian residents. Many universities provide this health cover which depends on your duration of stay and costs up to INR 35,000 per year. If your university does not provide the facility, you need to purchase it from one of the five approved providers: Australian Health Management, BUPA Australia, Medibank Private, Allianz Global Assistance and NIB OSHC.

A good character to enter Australia is pre-requisite. You may need to fill a Character Statutory Declaration in the visa application form and acquire a penal clearance certificate if immigration department requested.

Application Process for Australia Student Visa

To apply for Australian studentvisa, you can visit Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s website. The following steps are required for you to complete the application process:

• Step 1: You will need to create an ImmiAccount, an online application portal.
• Step 2: Scan and gather all the necessary documents.
• Step 3: Upload your scanned documents directly into ImmiAccount.
• Step 4: Pay the fees.

Post-Application

The status of your application can be tracked with a Transaction Reference Number (TRN), a unique code allocated to every online application.  You will be notified about further document requests or the decision of the application through immiAccount or send the email by Home Affairs Department.

Processing time

The process and confirmation or rejection of visa usually takes approximately 4 weeks. The delay may depend on other factors:

• Stipulation of all supporting documents
• Time taken by you to respond to requests by the department
• Time period of your health clearance and biometric information requirements.

If the visa request is confirmed you will be notified your visa number and other comments. If not, you will be notified encompassing reasons of denial.

Originally posted 2018-04-25 20:12:44.