If you’re an international student who intends to stay in Australia after graduation, it’s never too early to start preparing for the visa process.

The 485 visa is a temporary resident visa that allows international students to stay in Australia post the completion of your degree. Here are the specific criteria you need to meet to be eligible for the visa.

Study Requirements

Your course was a CRICOS-registered course that offers degree-level programs from a CRICOS-registered Australian education provider
You’ve completed your academic requirement, and your coursework duration was 2 years or longer
You must have a valid PTE, TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge C1 or OET test scores to prove your English language proficiency (if required)

Other requirements

You were previously granted a student visa to Australia
You are currently a holder of a student visa, or you held a student visa in the past 6 months before your application and now hold a substantive visa
You were previously not granted the 485 visa
Have adequate health insurance
You meet their character requirements
Should be below 50 years of age

Here are some FAQs answered:

How do I apply for the post-study work visa?

You will need to create an ImmiAccount, which will be the platform where you upload all your supporting documents and pay the required visa application fee. Also, keep in mind that the visa usually takes an average of 4-16 weeks to process and is an electronic visa that will be digitally linked to your passport.

Do I apply under the graduate work-stream or post-study work-stream?

The graduate work-stream visa is for international students that have graduated with skills and qualifications Australia is currently looking for. For the post-study work-stream, you have had to graduate with a degree from an Australian institution. Depending on the skills list, you can choose which work-stream is more applicable to you.

Do I need to get immigration assistance or an agent to process my visa application?

It is not necessary to get external help but if you do, you will need to ensure they are registered migration agents who are up to date with current laws and procedures. However, if planned well, the sub-class 485 visa application process is pretty simple and straight forward.

Where do I start with my application?

Ideally, you should start preparing for your visa application as soon as you have graduated. Also to consider is that certain documents take longer to procure than others. Our team recommends this process:

Create a checklist of all the documents you will need
Prioritise the documents that need a longer time to process in the beginning. This includes your Australian Federal Police check, arranging adequate health cover and passing the required level of the English proficiency tests like IELTS, PTE or TOEFL (if necessary)
Create an account on ImmiAccount and upload all your documents
Check if you are required to take a medical examination. If you do, generate your HAP ID (generated via your ImmiAccount) and book an appointment.
Gather the rest of your documents such as your proof of course completion, filling the character assessment forms and identity documents
Scan and upload the documents to support your visa application
Pay the visa fee

What is the visa application fee?

The visa application costs $1,650, and if you are required to take a health examination that would be an additional average cost of $322.

What is the difference between Bridging- A and Bridging-B visa?

From the time you apply for your visa and the visa is processed you will be granted a bridging visa to be eligible to stay in the country.

Bridging-A visa is the visa you are granted once your student visa expires, but you are not permitted to leave the country until your subclass-485 visa is processed. However, if you require to travel before you are granted your visa, you will need to apply for a Bridging-B visa and pay a fee. This will allow you to travel overseas while your visa application is being processed.

We promise it’s not as daunting as it seems, and we know you’ve got this!

For further details from the Department of Home Affairs, click here.