BusinessTech
International students who have completed their studies and wish to continue living in Australia, have the option of applying for a Temporary Graduate visa. This route can lead to working in Australia full-time and eventually permanent residency (PR) and Australian citizenship, notes Sable International.
Sam Hopwood of Sable International runs through the details around the graduate visa below:
The Temporary Graduate visa (subclass (485)
The Temporary Graduate visa (Subclass 485) is a visa for international students in Australia who have completed their studies. You can apply for this visa if you want to stay in Australia after your Student visa has expired.
The 485 visa enables you to complete a postgraduate professional year while gaining skilled work experience and improving your English. With this visa, you can temporarily live, study and work in Australia.
The Temporary Graduate visa is not a points-based visa nor does it require an employer sponsor.
While holding the Temporary Graduate visa, you can apply for another, permanent visa at any time.
Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) common requirements
You must:
Temporary Graduate visa streams
The Temporary Graduate visa has three streams:
This visa allows you to:
Graduate Work stream
The Graduate Work stream visa is suitable for students who did not study a bachelor level course, but still completed a course at the correct level for a job that is on the MLTSSL. Most trade courses would fit under this stream.
Graduate Work stream requirements
Applicants will need to:
To meet the academic year requirement, you may combine courses in some circumstances. For example, a student may complete two consecutive diploma-level courses and satisfy the Australian study requirement under the Graduate Work stream, provided the other components of the requirement are satisfied.
You can usually stay for up to 18 months on this visa, but this has temporarily been increased to 24 months for visas granted from 1 December 2021. Hong Kong and British National Overseas passport holders may stay for five years.
Post-Study Work stream
This visa is for international students who have recently graduated with a degree from an Australian institution. There’s no need to have a skills assessment nor have your studies relate to a relevant occupation.
Applicants will need to:
The duration of your visa depends on your qualification:
Hong Kong and British National Overseas passport holders may stay for five years.
Second Post-Study Work stream
This visa is for those who have already held a Post-Study Work stream visa and graduated with a degree from an Australian institution located in a regional area.
Applicants will need to:
On this stream, you can stay for a further one to two years depending on:
Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa (subclass 476)
This visa allows recent engineering graduates to live, work and study in Australia for up to 18 months.
Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa requirements
Applicants will need to:
You will also need to have had a major sequence of study, or specialisation in:
You can’t stay in Australia longer by extending this visa, as you can’t be granted another Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa. If you wish to stay, you will need to apply for another visa.
How to use a graduate visa to become an Australian citizen
The Temporary Graduate visa can only be applied for once and, while you are not able to extend this visa, you may be eligible to apply for a permanent work visa after you have worked in Australia for a few years. Many Temporary Graduate visa holders use their time on the 485 visa to build up the skills and requirements necessary to apply for a permanent general skilled visa in Australia.
Working visas that you might qualify for after holding a subclass 485 or subclass 476 visa include:
Australian citizenship by conferral
You may be eligible for Australian citizenship through residency after four years of continuous residency on an eligible visa and after 12 months of permanent residency. This is also known as citizenship through conferral.
Read: Australia CEOs warn on skilled-worker shortage
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How you can become an Australian citizen using this type of visa – BusinessTech
