The Department of Home Affairs have listed the following measures to assist international students who have been affected by the current COVID-9 situation
- Holders of student visas can apply for another visa WITHOUT FEE if they held a student visa on or after 1 Feb 2020 and could not complete their studies within their required visa validity period due to COVID-19.
- To be eligible to apply for a fee waiver, they need to submit Form 1545 along with their student visa application.
- The application must be lodged online, however the student can either be offshore or onshore at the time of visa lodgement.
- Online study undertaken offshore by those on student visas as a result of COVID-19 restrictions can be counted towards the Australian Study requirement for existing and new student visa holders.
- The Department is also currently putting in place legislation whereby graduates affected by the current COVID-19 travel restrictions can apply for a Temporary graduate Visa- subclass 485 OFFSHORE and can be granted this visa even if they are outside Australia.
- We are also getting indications that 485 visa applicants will be given additional time to provide English tests if they provide evidence that they were unable to book a test due to closure of test centres- however, this is not confirmed. So WATCH THIS SPACE
