Australian Student Visa Application Updates

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Getting a student visa is one of the easiest ways to start the migration process to Australia. Unlike families that have to go through extensive and stringent visa application processes in order to move to Down Under, aspiring students are allowed a more straightforward approach.

And now, the process is about to get even simpler. Currently, all applicants are classified according to three risk assessment levels, with level 1 presenting the least risk and level 3 presenting the highest risk. Your assessment level depends greatly on two things: 1.) your country of origin, and 2.) the education sector in which you are planning to study. The higher your risk assessment level, the greater evidentiary support you would need to submit when you apply.

Incoming students who have a Confirmation of Enrollment (CoE) from a participating education provider in Australia for an advanced degree, on the other hand, are exempted from the risk assessment process and instead are eligible for Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP), regardless of their country of origin.

From 1 July 2016, however, the three risk assessment levels will be abolished and there will only be one kind of Student Visa (subclass 500), regardless of what they will be studying. This new system, which will replace both the SVP and the Assessment Level Framework, is called the Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF) and it features the following changes:

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