For international students who want to live, study and/or work in Australia, Student and Graduate visas is the way forward. These include Student Visa (Subclass 500) which allows students to enter and study in Australia for up to 5 years, depending on length of the course, Temporary Graduate Visa (Subclass 485) which allows recent graduates to live and work in Australia temporarily for up to 4 years, after completion of studies, and the Student Guardian Visa which allows individuals who want to accompany and care for minors studying in Australia.
According to Department of Home Affairs statistics, in the 2019-20 program year, 378,967 student visa applications (Subclass 500 and Subclass 570 to 576) and 75,033 temporary graduate visa applications (Subclass 485) were lodged as on 31 May 2020 (11 months). As there is no cap on the number of student visas that are granted by the Department, out of the total applications received, the Department granted visas as shown in the table below:
| Visa Subclass | Applications received | Visas Granted | Grant Rate |
| Subclass 500 and Subclass 570 to 576 | 378,967 | 323,522 | 85.4% |
| Subclass 485 | 75,033 | 59,529 | 79.3% |
| Total | 454,000 | 383,051 | 84.37% |
Further, in the 2019-20 program year up to 31 December 2019 (6 months), 226,608 student visa applications (including temporary graduate visas) were lodged out of which the Department granted 200,403 student visas, which is about 88.4% approval rate. The graph below shows the number of student visa applications lodged by month – year on year 12 months rolling total basis.
The graph below shows the number of student visas granted by month – year on year 12 months rolling total basis.
From this data, we can infer that between 01 January 2020 and 31 May 2020 coinciding with the period of Covid-19 crisis, the Department has continued to received and process 227,392 visa applications. During this time, the Department has granted 182,648 visas at the approval rate of 80.3% which is a significant drop of 8% from the 88.4% rate in the previous 6 months (01 July 2020 to 31 December 2019).
If you have any questions or need more information about student and graduate visas, Get In Touch with us or call us on (02) 4626 100 to speak to one of our Registered Migration Agents.
