Student Visa
Students Visa Subclass 500
This visa is intended for students who want to study in Australia. There are student visas for students who want to study English, student visas for students who want to attend short courses ranging from three months to a year, and visas for students who want to pursue bachelor’s, master’s, or PhD degrees. With a student visa (subclass 500), you are permitted to stay in Australia for the duration of your course, up to five years, as long as you remain enrolled in a full-time course.
How does it work?
The student visa grant will allow you to study on a full-time basis in Australia. Students can choose any CRICOS-registered course from 3 months to 5 years. The courses can be chosen from the Australian Qualifications Framework.
This visa enables you to:
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- Participate in a qualifying course of study.
- Include your partner, or you and your partner’s dependent children, in your application as family members.
- Apply online from within or outside Australia (some visa holders, such as Visitor and Temporary Graduate visa holders, cannot apply from within Australia).
- Work up to 48 hours per fortnight while your course is in session, and unlimited hours during scheduled course breaks. Once your course begins, students undertaking a master’s by research or a doctoral degree may work unlimited hours.
Requirements
- Submit a Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) for a full-time course listed on CRICOS, the register of institutions and courses for international students, and demonstrate proof of your English language proficiency.
- For the duration of your stay in Australia, you and your family must be protected by Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) from an authorised Australian health insurance provider.
- You must satisfy the Genuine Student requirement, which replaced the Genuine Temporary Entrant requirement in March 2024.
- You must have sufficient welfare arrangements in place while you are in Australia if you are under the age of 18.
- Fulfil the requirements for character and health.
- Show sufficient funds for your stay (currently AUD 29,710 per year for living costs for the main applicant, plus tuition fees, travel costs and additional amounts for family members).
Validit
This visa permits students to stay in Australia for the duration of their selected program. This Australian visa also permits the person to enter and leave Australia many times. Students who bring dependent family members to Australia often remain for the same amount of time as the students themselves. However, dependents are not permitted to remain in Australia after the student has departed.
Student Subsequent Entrant Visa (Subclass 500) / Student Dependent Visa
Even if your family members do not intend to accompany you to Australia, you must list them in your student visa application. If you don’t do this, your family members won’t be able to join you in Australia on a student visa. If you declared any family members as existing at the time your application was submitted, or if they joined your family after you were granted the visa, they may apply to join you later as a subsequent entrant on an Australian student visa. Existing family unit members must have been listed when your application was submitted.
On SC-500, who may I bring with me?
Only immediate family members may go to Australia with a student visa:
- Your partner or spouse.
- Dependent minor child of you or your partner.
If your child is 18 or older, you are generally not allowed to include them in your visa application; they must apply independently. The sole exception is if your adult child is dependent on you because of an incapacity to work, for example due to a disability, or is otherwise financially or socially dependent on you. You must present proof that your child is a dependent in this situation, such as a medical report, bank documents, a power of attorney, etc.
Student Guardian Visa (Subclass 590)
With this visa, you can stay in Australia as a guardian of an international student to provide care and support, if the student is under 18 years of age. You must be a parent, legal guardian or relative, and aged 21 years or more. You must have sufficient funds to support yourself and the student in Australia. This is a temporary visa. You can stay until the student visa expires, or until the student turns 18, whichever is earlier. You must meet health and character requirements.
Visa Requirements:
- The primary applicant must have a Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) from an Australian education provider.
- You are only permitted to include your partner and children.
- All family members’ information must be included in the student visa application.
- If a person became a member of the primary applicant’s family unit before the primary applicant’s student visa was granted, their information must be included in the primary applicant’s student visa application.
- Children must be unmarried and under the age of 18 to be included, unless they are over 18 and genuinely dependent on you as described above.
- Your dependents must hold valid Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) for the duration of their visa.
- You must meet the financial requirements. You must show you have enough money to cover your first year, including your family members.
- Your dependents must also satisfy the Genuine Student requirement. Our skilled team can help you write the statement.
- Your dependents must complete the visa medical examinations if required, and the results are generally valid for 12 months.
- Your dependents must meet the character requirements.
- If you fail to disclose your family members, the department may refuse their visas.
- If you are applying from within Australia, you must hold an eligible substantive visa.
- The visa application charge for a main applicant is AUD 2,500 for most courses (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and vocational courses) from 1 July 2026. The fee for ELICOS (English language) students is AUD 2,050, and the fee for each accompanying family member varies. Please check the Department of Home Affairs website for current fees.
Here at AIM Education & Migration Consultants we are experienced in managing student visa applications and can help you with this. Please book a study and migration consultation if you would like a personalised eligibility assessment of your study and migration goals.
Notes before publishing: Work hours, the financial requirement (AUD 29,710), the visa fees and the onshore application restrictions change often. Please confirm them on the Department of Home Affairs website, and confirm the family member fees, which I could not verify.