Are you on a Student visa expiring in March?

For many students, their visa will expire on 15 March, a common expiry date for student visas each year. Now is the time to talk to a registered migration agent to discuss post-study visa options should you wish to remain in Australia.

At Swift Migration Australia, we recommend that students seek advice before completing their course, especially if seeking to apply for one of the various work visas. Work-related visas, whether it be an Employer Nomination Scheme visa, Regional Skilled Migration Scheme visa, General Skilled Migration visa or Skilled Nominated visa, all have the requirement of an adequate English test result (for example IELTs, unless there are exemptions) and a positive skills assessment carried out by a relevant body.

Skills assessments can take as long as 12 weeks to be assessed, and just like the English test result, they must be provided to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) at the time of lodging your visa application. Without a positive skills assessment and English test prior to applying for a visa, a visa refusal is inevitable, so it’s important to plan ahead to avoid disappointment.

For some students, there may not be enough time between graduation and visa expiry, to have a skills assessment finalised. In this case, we often recommend applying for a Temporary Graduate visa Subclass 485. This visa has 2 streams the Graduate Work stream (visa valid for 18 months) and the Post-Study Work stream (visa valid for 2, 3 or 4 years depending on your university qualifications).

Unlike the permanent work-related visas, the Temporary Graduate visa in the Graduate Work stream allows you to apply for the visa without having a completed skills assessment. It is adequate to simply provide evidence of having lodged the skills assessment application at the time of lodging your visa application. Meanwhile, the Post-Study Work stream does not require a skills assessment at all. Thus, the Temporary Graduate visas can be a useful stepping stone to buy time whilst waiting for a skills assessment.

Whatever your circumstances, we would love the opportunity to assess your visa options thoroughly in a scheduled meeting. Please don’t hesitate to contact us on hp@swiftmigrationaustralia.com or phone 07 5526 6869.