Student visa (subclass 500)
The Student visa lets you study a registered course in Australia. The criteria cover several things at once — your enrolment, your health cover, your English, your finances, and the genuine student, health and character requirements — and the Department’s page is where each of them is set out.
It explains the shape of the requirements and the process, in outline. It does not assess whether you meet them — that depends on your enrolment, your history and your current visa, and it is what an appointment is for.
Enrolment evidence goes in with the application
This is the requirement that catches people out. Correct enrolment evidence must accompany the application: an application lodged without it is invalid and is not processed. In the ordinary case that means a Confirmation of Enrolment for every full-time CRICOS-registered course you intend to study, provided when you apply and still valid when the application is decided.
- A CoE for each intended full-time CRICOS course — not only the first one
- Provided with the application, not sent afterwards
- Still valid at the time of decision
Where alternative evidence applies instead of a CoE
Some applicants provide different evidence of their study arrangements:
- A support letter from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, for applicants it sponsors
- A support letter from the Department of Defence, for applicants it sponsors
- An AASES form, for secondary exchange students
- A letter from the provider, for postgraduate research students awaiting the marking of a thesis
How the application runs
The Department publishes the process as a step guide, and the practical sequence is:
- Settle the enrolment and get the evidence in hand — nothing is lodged without it
- Arrange health cover, or confirm the exemption you rely on
- Arrange health examinations if they are required; they can be done before lodging
- Gather the rest of the documents, then lodge online with the enrolment evidence attached
- Allow time: if you are onshore, do not leave it until your current visa is days from expiry
Where the requirements and the application are published
What to have ready
- Your Confirmation of Enrolment, or where the enrolment stands
- Your current visa and its conditions, if you are in Australia
- Your health cover, or the exemption you rely on
- Anything already lodged, refused or cancelled, with reference numbers
- For an applicant under 18, who is arranging welfare and how
No. The enrolment evidence has to go in with the application — without it the application is invalid and is not processed. Settle the enrolment first.
Yes, for every full-time CRICOS-registered course you intend to study, and each one needs to still be valid when the application is decided.
Some applicants provide something else: a support letter from Foreign Affairs and Trade or from Defence, an AASES form for secondary exchange students, or a provider letter for postgraduate research students waiting on thesis marking. The official page sets out which applies to whom.
The Eligibility tab covers the genuine student requirement, English language, financial capacity, health and character. This page does not put figures on any of them: they change and the official page carries the current ones.
Often yes, if you hold an eligible substantive visa. Which visas qualify is on the official page, and if yours is close to expiry it is worth acting sooner rather than later.
A registered migration agent, an Australian legal practitioner, or an exempt person — the Department publishes who qualifies.
Talk to somebody about your own situation
This page explains how the visa is structured and what to prepare. What applies to you depends on your circumstances.
General information about Australian visa processes, not legal advice about your situation. Legal services are provided by Jameson Law.