Subclass 500 - Student visa applications have changed significantly over the last year:

• The genuine student test replaced the genuine temporary entrant requirement,

• Bars were created for student visa applications being made where the applicant is in Australia and is the holder of a subclass 485 – Temporary Graduate visa or visitor visa,

• English language requirements increased, and

• The financial capacity thresholds were indexed.

Procedurally, processing priorities were created and then changed just over a year later. Scrutiny of education providers was stepped up too.

Perhaps the last change for a while is that from 1 January 2025 letters of offer for most students will not be accepted to validly lodge a student visa application if the applicant is in Australia according to a new instrument.

A letter of offer is one of the initial steps for international students to study in Australia. After accepting the offer a formal confirmation of enrolment is issued and the course is registered within the Provider Registration and International Student Management System (PRISMS) which is run by the Department of Education and accessible by the Department of Home Affairs when assessing student visa applications.

If the student visa applicant is not enrolled in a course of study, they must either be required to remain in Australia for their postgraduate thesis marking or be a Foreign Affairs or Defence student and have the relevant support.

Currently, if that international student is in Australia, and as long as they are not otherwise barred, they can validly lodge a student visa application with a letter of offer only and be officially confirmed as enrolled while processing. This possibility will soon cease.

Except for the abovementioned postgraduate students required to be in Australia for thesis marking, Foreign Affairs and Defence students and secondary exchange students, all other student visa applicants must have confirmations of enrolment for each intended courses of study for any application lodged from 1 January 2025.

In practice student visa applicants enter the unique numbers contained in their confirmations in the visa application form in ImmiAccount.

It is likely that from 1 January 2025 unless they are one of the exempt, student visa applications will not be able to be validly lodged without the student’s details as contained in their confirmations of enrolment in PRISMS matching their passport details as recorded with the Department of Home Affairs.

Of course, those with multiple confirmations of enrolment should enter all courses as otherwise their student visa may be granted for a lesser period than they planned to study. This would require another student visa application in the future.