I HAVE DONE SEVERAL BLOGS ON THE ISSUE AND FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY, IT IS A REALITY… It is indeed great news for new degree bound students and the big plus is that institutions can market it as an USP for Australian Education. However, I continue to believe that it is unfair in limiting it to only those students whose “first student visa” was after 5th November 2011. There may be reasons for this but I believe that students who chose Australia during 2010-2011 and are now completing their degrees should still have been included. They chose Australia at a time when the world had shown it in poor light and now to keep them out is just not fair, despite any reasons. I am aware that the GTE was not applied on visas prior to 5th November 2011 but also am quite sure that if there was a will, there would have been a way… to include them in it. The bar on limiting the new scheme only to students after this date is also a negative for students who chose to do one degree prior and have begun a new degree thereafter… We seem to be turning unfair even to those who kept faith in Aussie system of education to return for a next level qualification.
Apart from this concern, the new visa is a huge huge plus for new students looking at Australia. Would hope that in the coming period, it will be extended to include the TAFE job-ready graduates too.
Now to provide the extract from the immigration site on what the visa is and for whom…
Post-study Work stream
You can apply for this visa in the Post-Study Work stream if you:
- applied for, and were granted, your first student visa to Australia on or after 5 November 2011
- have completed an eligible qualification from an Australian educational institution
- meet the two year Australian study requirement in the past six months.
First student visa
This stream is only available to you if you applied for, and were granted, your first Student visa to Australia on or after 5 November 2011. If you applied for and were granted any Student visa to Australia (including subclasses 560, 562, 570, 571, 572, 573, 574, 575, 576 or 580) before 5 November 2011, as either the main applicant or the family member of an applicant, you will not be able to apply in this stream.
Qualifications
In the past six months you must have completed one or more of the following qualifications at an Australian educational institution:
- bachelor degree
- bachelor degree with honours
- masters by coursework degree
- masters (extended) degree
- masters by research degree
- doctoral degree.
When is your course completed?
Qualifications are considered to have been completed when your educational institution publicly notifies you that you have met the requirements for the award of the qualification, for example, in a completion letter. Submission of a thesis, or completion of exams, is not sufficient.
This date should not be confused with the date of conferral of your award. The date of conferral is the date that you actually receive your degree, diploma or trade qualification, for example, at a graduation ceremony.
Australian study requirement
In the six months before you apply, you must meet the Australian study requirement. This means that you must have completed one or more courses registered on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS).
Your course must:
- result in the award of a bachelors, masters or doctoral degree
- be conducted in English
- be at least two academic years (92 weeks) duration
- be lawfully completed in no less than 16 months
- be completed at an Australian educational institution in Australia.
English language proficiency courses or enabling programs cannot be used to meet the Australian study requirement.
If you complete a graduate diploma or graduate certificate in a packaged, nested or articulating course leading to an eligible qualification, you can use that study towards meeting the two-year study requirement. For example, you can count a Graduate Diploma in Educational Studies leading to a Master of Education.
You can only use study that leads to an eligible qualification. If you complete a degree and then take a graduate diploma or graduate certificate course, the diploma or certificate course cannot be used to meet the two-year study requirement.
How does the duration of your course count towards this requirement?
You can use CRICOS to find the registered duration of a course. The department will use the same information. A course that is listed on CRICOS as having a 92-week duration is considered to meet the requirement of two academic years.
The department will credit you only with the duration that is listed on CRICOS, even if you take longer to complete your course. Failed subjects and parts of courses taken outside Australia do not count.
If your educational institution awards you credit towards a qualification on the basis of prior learning, that credit may count towards meeting the two-year requirement, but only if the prior learning was in Australia, was in a CRICOS-registered course, and is used only once to meet the Australian study requirement for a visa.
If you take overlapping courses for separate qualifications (for example, a Masters in Finance and a Masters in Accounting), the period of overlap can only be counted once towards the two-year requirement.
You cannot count any studies outside Australia towards the Australian study requirement. The only courses you can count towards the Australian study requirement are those that are completed in Australia.
Visit the immigration site for the full details and process to apply. The above information is from the site itself and available on this link.
RLS's Blog 
Hi Ravi – A simple clarification required . What about returning student who are issued a visa to Australia after 5 Nov 2011. Being a returning student, the is not their First Student Visa to Australia
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My reading is that it must be the FIRST student visa and so returning students on the new visa after 5th Nov 2011 are not fine. Do check the details on immi site. This is precisely one if the negatives in my opinion.
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Ravi, how many years/months of post study visa is given?
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Ravi, how many months/years of post study visa will be approved?
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It depends to the level of program completed and can be between 2 and 4 years.
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Thank you Ravi. That was really quick.
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Ravi,
Do you believe that by any chance there will be a change in the rules that will allow students that applied for their first student visa before 5 Nov to apply for the new Graduate Visa?
Thanks
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This is my personal opinion but I believe that there is likely to be no change at all. To an extent the current government may actually be regretting that they okayed the PSW by itself. They have taken a stance with the forthcoming elections where the message is clearly that jobs should go to Australians first. This is the message loud and clear where they are attacking the 457 subclass visa. As I stated in an earlier blog, the media is yet to catch up with this quietly implemented 485 subclass extension which is clearly at odds with the stance taken on the 457.
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SIr,How many years of post study visa will be given for PG diploma course in information technology ?
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Look up the information on the immi site. It appears that you have to have done a degree to be able to get the PSW advantage. Not PG Dip.
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Hi Ravi,
Im taking up a Masters coursework program in field of ICT this september. I have a few questions.I will be given PSW for 2 years after my studies in Australia.
1.If i get a job in Australia after my studies and after the 2 year period of PSW can i apply for Permanent Residency or i can only extend this visa for working ?
2.I have gone through this blog
http://www.meldmagazine.com.au/2012/05/graduate-job-prospects-international-students/
After reading the blog i felt jobs are depending on the employers.The situation is UNFAIR.
Im spending hard earned 35 lakh rupees and using it for studying Masters.
Most companies need PR for jobs. If i cannot work in any company after my studies to repay my loans whats the point of going to Australia for studies.
Please help me and justify my question with your research and experience in the field..
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PSW is a new initiative and will allow you to work for the two years and the employers will not have to sponsor you. Employers tend to advertise the jobs for the PR or citizen especially since they knew that they had to sponsor the others. However the PSW visa allows you to be able to work for that duration. On completion of the PSW, if you are eligible for any other visas: PR or Work Permit or any others… you can certainly apply. It will depend on the regulations at that time though.
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Thanks Ravi…I got you now..
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This is interesting. I teach IELTS in Singapore and came across your website through searching for some stuff. A lot of my students are Indians wanting to go to Australia.
I myself am an Australian citizen and have lived in Sydney before, though now I live in Singapore. I have a lot of friends (not Aussie citizens) who returned back to Singapore because it wasn’t easy to stay on after their studies. So maybe things may change now from now on.
You have an interesting blog. Will check it out every so often. Cheers!
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