Visa Prices

These new prices are effective from the 1st of July 2013.

Click here to download the PDF file.

The Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) Requirement

What is a genuine student? A Genuine student is a student who intends to obtain a successful educational outcome and has the language, educational and material background to have a reasonable chance of achieving this educational outcome.

Factors that are considered under existing requirement to be a genuine applicant for entry and study as a student include: English language proficiency; financial capacity; prerequisite schooling; age requirements; and intention to comply with visa conditions. There are no changes planned to the genuine student requirement.

What is genuineness? A genuineness assessment is generally made by taking into account a number of personal factors relating to an applicant such as their immigration history, circumstances that may encourage the applicant to return to their home country and conditions that might encourage the applicant to remain in Australia.

The Department of Immigration and Culture (DIAC) may ask you the following questions and require documents to prove that you are a genuine student.

•Why do you wish to study this course?
•How will this course benefit your career?
•What relevance is this study to previous studies undertaken?
•How can you prove that you are a genuine student?
•Please provide a history of your education history? (ie high school, university, related/relevant courses).
•Can you provide an explanation on how you will comply with your visa conditions?
•Why do you wish to study in Australia?
•How does this course benefit applicant future plans?
•What do you intend to do on completion of this course?
•Do you intend to return to your country?
•What incentive is there to return to your country?

Passport Required

Please forward a certified copy of the biodata and signature pages of your passport to this office as soon as possible. This is the page with your Photo, Name, Country of Birth and Date of Birth on it. Documents must be certified by a practising lawyer, a Magistrate, Public Notary, Justice of the Peace or Commissioner of Declarations (or equivalent in your country).

Certification and Translation Requirements

All foreign language documents must be accompanied by an English translation by a qualified translator in your country.
Documents must be certified as true copies of the original by a practising lawyer, a Magistrate, Public Notary, Justice of the Peace or Commissioner of Declarations (or equivalent in your country).

The certification must include a written statement in English on each page.
Example: “I have sighted the original document and certify that this is a true copy of the Birth Certificate for …”. The authorised person certifying the document must also include their full name, contact details, occupation, signature and date of certification.
If the laws of your country do not allow an authorised person to certify your documents as true copies, you may still send them to the department but processing will take longer. You must still indicate in English what type of document it is (eg Birth Certificate).

Timeframe for Response

If there has not been any response within 28 days, or if the response is unsatisfactory or incomplete, then this application will be decided on the basis of the information that is already available. Section 62 (1) and (2) of the Migration Act state that if an applicant for a visa is invited to give additional information or to comment on information, and does not give the information or comment before the time for giving it has passed, the Minister (or a delegate of the Minister) can make a decision to grant or refuse to grant the visa without taking any action to obtain the additional information.

Please attach scans of the requested evidence electronically to the eVisa application. For further information: http://www.immi.gov.au/e_visa/students-attachments.htm

If you are unable to attach these documents to your on line application, please contact your case officer at perth.offshore.students@immi.gov.au

Student Visa Branch WA will not provide ‘progress reports’ on student visa applications. As you have lodged your application via the internet, you can monitor all major milestone events using the eVisa Query Application Status (QAS) service at https://www.ecom.immi.gov.au/inquiry/query/query.do?action=eVisa .The service provides instant feedback on aspects of the application that have been finalised as well as links to forms that may need to be downloaded and printed. Please check this page prior to sending an email, as all progress milestones will be reflected on the QAS site.

You should not travel to Australia until you have received notification of the grant of your student visa. If you choose to arrive in Australia before your visa is granted, you may need to withdraw this application and lodge a new visa application on-shore. 

Student Visa Conditions Australia

Many conditions apply if you are holding a student visa. It is important that you adhere to these conditions during your tem of study. Failure to comply to any one of the conditions can result in your visa being withdrawn.

The following are some of the important conditions:

•Maintain a valid enrolment for the duration of the visa
•Satisfy course requirement, record 50% pass mark in academic performance. Provider can report poor performance to DIAC and visa can be withdrawn
•Notify DIAC of change of home address and email
•Re apply for visa (cost $535) if changing subclass, English 570; Vet 572; Higher Education 573
•Not work more than 20 hours during school term
•Study with the provider for a minimum of 6 months
•Report in writing to DIAC if student wishes to defer course
•Be insured with OSHC for the visa duration

For up to date information please visit the DIAC website: www.immi.gov.com.au

Student Visa Refusal

Over the past couple of months we have noticed an increase in Student Visa Refusal.

Examples of reasons for this on the Decision Record documents are as follows:

1. ”Student could not provide sufficient evidence of studies undertaken as he/she did not complete any formal study after primary school in their respective country.’’
2. ”Student was not able to provide any information about the company he/she claims to work for or what his duties were in the company.’’
3. ”Student responses to questions posed in the interview at the Australian High Commission lead to concerns as the applicant’s background and individual circumstances and motives for studying in Australia did not appear to focus on the educational outcomes.’’
4. ’’Students when questioned about their course were not familiar with what they were studying and did not know what the outcome was.’’

It is important that you are aware of the details necessary for the interview process at the Department of Immigration to go smoothly and successfully.

To ensure this happens it is important that you can answer the following satisfactory.

Q1. Does the student understand they are going to be a student on a student visa?

Q2. Has the student researched the school/college they are intending to study at?

Q3. Does the student have adequate information on the course they intend to study?

Q4. Does the student have adequate information on the city/country they intend to live in?   i.e.: cost of living?

Q5. Has the student been given correct information on their work restrictions while studying in Australia? i.e.: 20 working hours per week.

Q6. Has the student provided the correct information/answers?

Q7. Does the student know the potential vocational outcomes of the course they intend to study and what they hope to achieve?

Q8. Can the students specify any activity or interest they previously had that relate to this course to show their genuine interest in this field?

Q9. Most importantly – Does the student know the conditions of a student visa and the consequences should the student breach the conditions? What constitutes a breach? What will happen and what will they need to do?

Visitor Visa ( Subclass 600 )

http://www.immi.gov.au/visas/visitor/600/

About this Visa

The Visitor visa (subclass 600) is for people who want to travel Australia as tourists, for business or to visit family. It is a temporary visa.

This visa has four streams:

• Tourist stream: for people travelling to Australia for a holiday, recreation or to visit family and friends. If you apply for this visa in Australia, you must be in Australia when the visa is decided. If you apply for this visa outside Australia, you must be outside Australia when the visa is decided.
• Business Visitor stream: for business people travelling to Australia for a short business visit. This includes making a general business or employment enquiry, negotiations or participating in a conference. You must be outside Australia when you apply and when the visa is decided.
• Sponsored Family stream: for people travelling to Australia to visit their family. You must have a sponsor who might be asked to provide a bond. You must be outside Australia when you apply and when the visa is decided. You cannot apply for another visa after you have arrived in Australia.
• Approved Destination Status stream: for people from the People’s Republic of China who are travelling in an organised tour group. You must be outside Australia when you apply and when the visa is decided.

What this Visa Lets Your Do

This visa lets you travel to Australia to:

• have a holiday or visit family and friends in Australia
• study in Australia for up to three months
• engage in business activities while in Australia, provided you:

o    do not work for or provide services to a business or organisation in Australia

o    do not sell goods or services to the public.

The department will tell you how many times you can enter Australia and on this visa:

• You may be allowed to enter only once. If so, you will need to apply for a new visa if you want to return to Australia again after you leave.
• You may be able to travel to and from Australia as many times as you want while your visa is valid, but the time you spend in Australia cannot be more than the period of stay that you have been granted.

Working Holiday Visa

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/417/

You should read this information if you are applying for your first or second Working Holiday visa.

The main purpose of this visa is to allow you to have an extended holiday while supplementing your funds with short-term work in Australia.

Who is this Visa for?

This visa is for people aged 18 to 30 years of age, who are interested in a working holiday of up to 12 months in Australia.

Important: You must have turned 18, but not turned 31, at the time of your visa application.
See: Eligibility

This visa allows you to supplement the cost of your holiday through short-term employment. However, if your primary reason for travelling to Australia is to participate in the work force, you should consider a visa designed for that purpose.
See: Workers

How much this Visa will cost?

There is an application charge for this visa. We do not usually refund the visa application charge, even if the visa application is refused or withdrawn.
See: Fees and Charges

What does this Visa let me do?

If you are granted this visa you can:

• enter Australia within 12 months of grant
• stay up to 12 months
• leave and re-enter Australia any number of times while the visa is valid
• work in Australia for up to six months with each employer
• study for up to four months.