To cope with the present skills shortages in the workplaces, Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship is introducing a new program where the eligible international students will be given an option in regards to post study work arrangements. This is happening in the early months of 2013 and is meant for students who complete Australian Bachelor, Masters or a Doctoral degree.
These degrees will have to be related to occupations that are in demand in Australia for the graduate to be eligible to apply for work arrangements. This program is the continuation of the existing so called temporary skilled graduate (subclass 485) visa that is being renamed to temporary graduate visa.
Another important requirement to note is that you ought to complete these requisites in the 6 months prior to making your temporary graduate visa application. A definition of Australian study requirement is anyone studying in Australia in a registered course for the minimum of 2 years. The final major fulfilment criteria are that the course must be in English and the completion period must not exceed 16 calendar months.
The course undertaken must also be registered through the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Course for Overseas Students (CRICOS). Any training and study that was done outside Australia cannot be used toward satisfying the Australian study requirement.
These new arrangements are not related to skilled migration and are not normally a way to a permanent residency application. What this means is that the applicants in the post study work program will not have to submit a skills assessment or list a skilled occupation when submitting their application.
The length of time an applicant can submit for depends on the level of their study. For bachelor degree applicants that time is two years whereas post graduates who have done masters or doctorate can apply for up to 4 years.
As with any Australian visa programs, it is worth noting that this temporary new work arrangement visa is not automatically approved and are also assessed on per case basis.
This post study work visa program of the subclass 485 is intended for international students who submitted their initial student visa application after the commencement of the genuine temporary entrant requisites in November 2011. Should you not meet all the requisites, you could still be eligible for a temporary graduate visa via this program. All visa applications for 485 subclass visa must be submitted within 6 months of the date of the course completion.