“No Further Stay” conditions on your student visa

This condition is applied on the discretion of the case officer who is assessing your application. This condition will be imposed on student visas that are deemed to be high risk. If an international student visa holder has this condition on their visa it means that they cannot apply to most of the substantial visas. The visas that they can apply to are the;

• Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate)

• Subclass 590 (Student Guardian)

• Protection visas

There are opportunities to request for a waiver of the condition in very limited circumstances

However, you can apply for certain visas provided that you complete the course for which the student visa was granted to you. And if you do complete your course you will be eligible for certain visas even without requesting for a waiver. Those visas are:

• General Skilled Migration visa (for example Subclass 189 or 190)

• Subclass 132 (Business Talent) visa

• Subclass 186 (Employee Nomination Scheme) visa

• Subclass 187 (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme) visa

• Subclass 188 (Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional)) visa

• Subclass 482 (Temporary Skill Shortage) visa

The condition 8535 is a mandatory condition imposed on student visas sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or Department of Defence. If this condition is present in your visa then you can only apply for a very limited amount of visas. They are;

• a Student (Temporary) (Class TU) visa we grant you because you have support from the Commonwealth or a foreign government, or

• a protection visa

While you are applying for another student visa while you hold the visa with condition 8535 you will have to attach a letter of support from the Australian government or foreign government with your new application.

You can request to waive condition 8535, but it is in very limited circumstances that the department will waive it.

Having these conditions imposed on your visa would mean your options in exploring other visas are very limited. It will reduce the flexibility for you to switch plans or extend your stay in Australia for any other reasons than for which your student visa was granted. Students must now be very thorough in planning their education, they should especially plan ahead for a post graduate pathway while applying for a student visa. Having the conditions imposed in your visa will also effect any subsequent family members who are included in your application. They will be subject to the same conditions as you. And this would also create restrictions in bringing your partner or spouse to Australia.

If you’ve been on a temporary visa in Australia for 5 years then you may be deemed to be a high risk applicant.

If you currently hold a SC 485 Temporary Graduate visa and you make an application for another student visa, this can impose a 8534 condition.

If you are enrolled in a course and you haven’t finished the course in the allotted time period and you make another student visa application can make you a high risk applicant.

If you were on SC 482 Temporary Skill Shortage Visa for a long time and then you apply for student visa can make you a high risk applicant.

If you are applying a student visa for a diploma-level course after obtaining a degree, this would make you a high risk applicant.

These conditions underscore Australia’s commitment to the changes that they proposed in the migration strategy. These conditions align with the new Genuine Student Test that replaced the old Genuine Temporary Entrant test. So anyone venturing into applying for a student visa must plan ahead of a solid post study pathway, in the event their visas have the “No Further Stay” condition.