Some important changes have been announced by the Australian Government – here’s what they mean for you.
The Australian Government is offering an incentive to encourage those with student visas to return to Australia sooner rather than later. As stated in a media release published on 19 January 2022, “any Student visa holder who is currently offshore and comes to Australia over the next 8 weeks, will be eligible for a refund of their Visa Application Charge.”
Important information:
- A Visa Application Charge for a student is currently $630AUD.
- The eligible dates for a refund on your visa application charge are between 19 January to 19 March 2022
- You will be able to apply for a refund right up until the end of this year. More information on this will become available on the Department of Immigration and Home Affairs website.
This measure has been introduced not only to attract more international students to Australia but also to help address the shortage of workers that Australia is facing due to increased Covid-19 cases and strict border closures over the past two years.
The Australian government also recently relaxed the number of hours that international students can work, across all sectors. Students will now be able to work more than 20 hours per week. This change in hours will be reviewed in April 2022.
In additional news, the state of Queensland has announced that from 1am, 22 January, fully vaccinated international travelers will no longer be required to quarantine on arrival. They will be required to take a rapid antigen test within 24 hours of arrival.
All international students arriving into Australia must be fully vaccinated with a vaccine recognized by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Unvaccinated travelers will still have to quarantine for 14 days on arrival.
Vaccinated students flying into any other Australian state will still need to self-isolate for three days on arrival.
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