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Student Visa Subclass 500

Visit Australia to participate in a course of study

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Genuine Student Requirement?

Student visa applications lodged on or after 23 March 2024 are assessed under the new Genuine Student (GS) requirement.

You must show that you meet the Genuine Student requirement for a student visa. This includes answering a set of new questions in the online student visa application form, shown below:

  1. Details of your current circumstances, including ties to family, community, employment and economic circumstances. 
  2. Explain the reason you wish to study this course in Australia with this particular education provider and your understanding of the requirements of the intended course and studying and living in Australia.
  3. Explain how completing the course will be of benefit to you.
  4. Details of any other relevant information you would like to include.

Answers must be written in English, with a maximum of 150 words per question.

There is an additional question for those applicants who have previously held a student visa or those who are lodging an application in Australia from a non-student visa.

Along with the responses included in the application form, you must attach supporting documents to your ImmiAccount.

This can include:

  • Qualifications – a certified copy of your academic transcripts, Educational Certificate (Degree, Diploma etc.) or letter/statement from your overseas Education Institution.
  • Australian qualifications – a certified copy of your academic transcripts, Educational Certificate (Degree, Diploma etc.) or letter/statement from your Australian Education Institution.
  • Proof of employment – your current or most recent employment which includes payslips or a contract. You can also attach your most recent curriculum vitae or résumé. Your curriculum vitae or résumé should include employment and educational history.

In line with Ministerial Direction 106, we will consider:

  • your circumstances in your home country
  • your potential circumstances in Australia
  • the value of the course to your future
  • your immigration history
  • any other relevant matter.

If you are a minor, we will also consider the intentions of a parent, legal guardian or spouse

2. How Do I Meet The Financial Requirement?

Students applying for this visa are required to declare, and often demonstrate, that they will have genuine access to funds to meet the costs of their tuition and living expenses -for themselves and for any accompanying family members – during their stay in Australia. 

The level of funds and the extent of evidence required depends on the passport country of the applicant and institution they are enrolled into. The Department of Home Affairs provides a Document Checklist Tool, including the financial evidence you may be required to provide.

Student visa holders will need to declare the following costs and expenses for the first 12 months (pro-rated if the period of stay is less than 12 months) in Australia:

Living Costs

12-month living costs are for:

  • students – AUD29,710
  • partners coming with you – AUD10,394
  • a child coming with you – AUD4,449.

Travel Costs

As a guide, when you calculate how much money you need, include:

  • AUD2,500 for travel costs if you are applying from East or Southern Africa
  • AUD3,000 for travel costs if you are applying from West Africa
  • AUD2,000 for travel costs if you are applying from anywhere else outside Australia 
  • AUD1,000 for travel costs if you are applying in Australia. If you will be returning to Africa include AUD1,500.

Course Fees

Use the first 12 months of your course fees. If your course is 12 months or less, use the total cost. Deduct any costs you have already paid – you must provide evidence you have paid them, such as a receipt or Confirmation of Enrolment.

If you are in Australia and your course has already started, calculate the course fee for 12 months starting on the date you lodge your application.

  • Example 1: your course fee is AUD50,000 for 3 years. The fee for 12 months is the total course cost divided by the number of years you will be studying. AUD50,000 divided by 3 years = AUD16,666, less any amount you have already paid if relevant.
  • Example 2: your course fee is AUD15,000 for 10 months and you have already paid AUD5,000. Deduct the amount you have already paid from the total amount. AUD15,000 – AUD5,000 = AUD10,000.
  • Example 3: your course fee is AUD20,000 for 18 months. The fee for 12 months is the total divided by the total number of months, then multiplied by 12. (AUD20,000/18) x 12 = AUD13,333. Deduct any costs you have already paid.

Schooling costs

If you are including any school-age children in your application, add schooling costs of at least AUD13,502 per year for each child. Costs vary between states, territories and schools in Australia. You are responsible for finding out how much the child’s schooling will cost.

You don’t have to provide evidence of schooling costs if you:

  • are a PhD student and have enrolled your child in an Australian government school where the fees have been waived, or
  • have received an Australian Commonwealth Government scholarship, including Foreign Affairs and Defence sponsored students, and have enrolled your child in an Australian government school where the fees have been waived.

You must provide evidence the child is enrolled.

Figures current as at 05/10/2026 · source: Department of Home Affairs

3. What Are My Visa Conditions?

Once granted, your student visa will come with a number of conditions you and any accompanying family members must abide by while in Australia, in order to continue holding this visa. Failure to maintain these conditions could result in a cancellation of the student visa for the main visa holder and all accompanying family members. The Department of Home Affairs provides  a comprehensive list of the conditions commonly attached to this visa, specifically:

8105 -Work Restriction

This condition means you cannot work in Australia before your course starts unless at the time of applying for this visa, you held another visa that permitted you to work in Australia.

You also cannot work more than 48 hours a fortnight when your course of study or training is in session. 

A course of study is in session:

  • for the duration of the school semesters (including when exams are being held)
  • you take another course that will count towards your main course during a term break.

If you can work over 48 hours a fortnight

You can only work over 48 hours a fortnight if:

  • you hold a student visa granted in relation to a masters degree by research or doctorate degree and your masters degree by research or doctorate degree has started​​
  • it is a registered part of your course that is mandatory, that was specified as a requirement of the course when the course particulars were entered into the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students

A course is not in session:

 

 

A fortnight is a period of 14 days starting on a Monday.

An example of a student visas holder’s 48 hours a fortnight working limit is:

  • week 1: 15 hours work
  • week 2: 30 hours work
  • week 3: 30 hours work
  • week 4: 10 hours work.

The student may not have breached their work conditions in the fortnight comprising the 14 days of weeks 1 and 2 (45 hours worked) or in the fortnight comprising the 14 days of weeks 3 and 4 (40 hours). However, if in session the student will be in breach of their work conditions, in the fortnight comprising the 14 days of weeks 2 and 3 (60 hours worked).

For example: a student is studying a commercial cookery course on a subclass 500 visa and is offered work experience during school holidays. The Student works 75 hours a fortnight and is allowed to work unlimited hours while the course is not in session. The student visa holder did not break their work condition.

Work experience is included in a student’s work restriction of 48 hours a fortnight whether it is paid or unpaid.

The exception to this is if a work experience unit forms a mandatory component of a student’s course and is included in the CRICOS registration of that course. In this circumstance, the work experience will not be included in the student’s work restriction of 48 hours a fortnight. Any work experience/work placement that is not a mandatory course requirement, or that is in excess of the period required in the course registration, is included in a student’s work limitation of 48 hours a fortnight.

For example: a pharmacy student undertaking a mandatory 4 week block of on the job training has unlimited work rights for the purpose and duration of the work placement, as documented in the registered course structure.

Examples of definition of work:

  • You do a shift at a restaurant as part of a roster, but not during your rostered unpaid meal break.
  • You are a taxi driver who has signed in and is ready to receive passengers, until you sign out for a break or your shift ends.

As a student visa holder, you are considered to have worked if you have:

  • attended a place of work for a period by a roster or timesheet (but not during unpaid breaks)
  • been ‘clocked on’ to an electronic system that records work activity
  • received remuneration for work, as indicated in a payslip you have been given (unless you give documentary evidence that you were not working during this time).

You can work more than one job as long as the total hours are not more than 48 hours in a fortnight.

If you are an employer seeking to hire a student visa holder, you should request evidence that they commenced their course. This evidence can be a confirmation of enrolment or a letter from the education provider.
Employers who have hired a student visa holder should ensure that the student/employee is not working more hours than the employee’s visa allows.

Understanding your work rights

The Department is working with the Fair Work Ombudsman to help employees and employers understand and follow Australian Workplace laws.

Information on pay rates, shift calculations, leave arrangements and notice and redundancy entitlements is in the Pay and Conditions Tool (PACT).

The Fair Work Ombudsman website has more information on workplace rights and entitlements for visa holders and migrant workers.

For the full list of conditions relevant to your visa, see the Federal Register of Legislation.

8202 – Meet Course Requirements

You must:

  • remain enrolled in a registered course (if you are a Foreign Affairs or Defence sponsored student or a secondary exchange student you must maintain full-time enrolment in your course of study or training)
  • maintain enrolment in a registered course that is the same Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level or higher for which we granted your student visa, unless changing from AQF level 10 to level 9. See: Change in study situation.
  • maintain satisfactory attendance in your course and course progress for each study period as required by your education provider.

Note: A registered course is one that is on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS).

Gap between courses

Generally course gaps should not be more 2 months. A course gap can be more than 2 months if:

  • it is the end of the academic year study break
  • you are affected by education provider default
  • you have completed your course and you are applying for a new visa

Additional information

See Your study situation has changed.

8501 – Maintain adequate health insurance

You must have and maintain adequate health insurance for the whole of your stay in Australia.

For more information on how this condition mi​ght apply to you see your visa details.

8104 – Work restriction: 40 hours a fortnight

This condition means you cannot work more than 40 hours a fortnight, unless you are a family member of a student.

Family members of a student visa holder

Family members of a student visa holder cannot work before the student’s course starts unless at the time of applying for the visa they, or the student visa holder, held another visa that permitted them to work in Australia.

Family members of a student visa holder cannot work more than 48 hours a fortnight.

Family members of a student visa holder who has started studying a masters degree or doctorate degree can work more than 48 hours a fortnight. 

A fortnight is a period of 14 days starting on a Monday.

Understanding your work rights

The Department is working with the Fair Work Ombudsman to help employees and employers understand and follow Australian Workplace laws.

Information on pay rates, shift calculations, leave arrangements and notice and redundancy entitlements is in the Pay and Conditions Tool (PACT).

The Fair Work Ombudsman website has more information on workplace rights and entitlements for visa holders and migrant workers.

For the full list of conditions relevant to your visa, see the Federal Register of Legislation.

8517 – Maintain adequate arrangements for the education of your school-age dependants

You must maintain adequate arrangements for the education of your school-age dependants who are in Australia for more than 3 months as a dependant on your visa.

For the full list of conditions relevant to your visa, see the Federal Register of Legislation.

Do You Have Any Further Questions?

We understand that you may have specific questions about your own unique situation, so if there is anything you need to know that is not addressed on this website, do not hesitate to contact us.

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Why choose us?

At Carevisa Australia, we make sure that our clients are looked after. We will manage your visa case with the highest level of care, and guide you throughout every step of the process. We are here to help you in any way, and assist you with any Australian migration related queries you may have.