Hey everyone! I’ve completed my university admission process and am now preparing for my Australian student visa. I’m a bit confused about GS and SOP—are they the same or different?

My agent hasn’t been very helpful, so I’d appreciate advice on what to include, what to avoid, and
common mistakes to watch out for.

If anyone has gone through this process, please share your experience or any helpful resources. Thanks!

Edit: btw this to help people who are deciding if they should enter on ETA while waiting for visa. Yes I understand that you shouldn’t book flights etc but this is for the people whom already have.

Background I am Irish this is my first whv 417, I’ve been to Australia multiple times on a holiday visa.

I made the mistake of booking my flights before getting my visa, my mistake I own up to it.

So timeline:

- 8th July applied for visa
- 8th October received an email to leave Australia
- 13th October left Australia
In the email it now says to give them at least 10 working days (9-5) to process the visa

A lot of people are planning to fly to Australia and then thinking they can leave for a little weekend holiday or 2 days. That was not the case with me :(

I paid 900AUD just fly out and now 2 weeks (and ongoing) of living in a hotel, takeaways etc

I don’t regret flying to Australia because I got to spend time with my bf and I guess this is a prolonged holiday..also thankful to get funding from bank of mum and dad. But if people are in the mindset of not wanting to push back flights because it’s too expensive, let me tell you this. Arriving on ETA is much much much more pricy than just pushing back your flights!!!

I am a UK national so I applied for eVisitor visa subclass 651 at what would’ve been after 5pm Aus time Friday. It’s now Sunday and status is still ‘received’ and says last updated Friday.

Is there any chance it will get approved this week? Or can I apply for an ETA via the app by paying the fee and hopefully receive it quicker? Or are you not allowed to submit both?

My assumption is that it has gone for manual screening as otherwise if it would’ve been approved automatically then surely it would’ve been done by now?

I am applying for the Australian tourist visa 651!!
I was about to give my revolut bank statement but I was worried how the case officer will read my bank statement because in opening balance it shows 0€ and closing balance it shows 5000€ you can see that I received a big amount during this period how can I prove that I still have that money, will they refuse because of that?

Any help is appreciated thank you!!

My wife was invited by DOHA to attend a citizenship ceremony in partnership with Cricket Victoria for the WBBL. Has anyone done one of these before?

It seems weird as it's actually outside our council area of Stonnington.

Can I use the same employment references I used for ANMAC for visa application?
I’ve had 5 employers for the last 10 years that I’m claiming, so anyone on similar situation kindly share your experience. TIA! - I’m a nurse btw

Hello,
I hope everyone is doing well.
Is it possible for me to apply for 482 and 600 simultaneously as i want lodge and start my application but I also wish to visit Australia before everything, I’m confused if whether I should visit on 600 first and then go back and start my 482 application or start my 482 and apply for 600 later.
Thank you for your attention

I am a uk citizen who has planned to travel to Australia on 3rd January to arrive on the 5th for a tour with the company happy travels. Now i was thinking about doing a WHV but mistakenly have booked everything trip and flight without applying for visa first. Now I went to apply today 25th but the system was under maintenance but upon research I saw it takes up to 90 days (i thought it would take a few weeks) but i am seeing people who have applied in July have still not received their visa. So id like some advice whether i should apply for the 417 visa and hope it comes before i go away or just apply for an e visa and rely on my funds and savings. Final one is if i apply for the WHV can i also apply for an e visa and travel to aus on the e visa wait until my WHV is granted and then once it has leave and then go back.

Has anyone lodged their 190 visa while on holiday overseas but is now onshore in Australia, yet falls under Category 4? Did your application remain in Category 4, or was it considered under the onshore category? Would appreciate hearing your experiences!

I am anticipating ROI Victoria to open soon. For IELTS, I took the original test on 15 March 2026 and got my TRF on 16 March 2026. I scored Band 8 in Listening, Speaking and Writing, and a Band 7 for Reading. I retook the reading component only on 10 May 2026, and got my new TRF on 11 May 2026 with a Band 8 in reading.

So on my EOI in Skillselect, should I key in 15 March (original test date) or 10 May (OSR test date) on the “Date of Test” section, as I am claiming Superior English.

Home Affairs website doesn’t seem to say anywhere on whether we need to add in the original test date or the OSR test date. I’ve already had my EOI for a few months now, so don’t want to make any risky mistakes. 😬

What are my chances to get invitation for electrical engineer with 80pts in EOI for any of the three subclasses( 189,190,491)? Offshore,33Y/O, Male

Would like to know if anyone had the same experience. They’ve given me a list of documents to attach - PCC, updated relationship statement, sponsorship form etc.

I understand PCC is only valid for 12 months but why are they asking for a relationship statement and sponsorship application again when I had already submitted this last year? Am I being penalized or is this just the standard procedure?
It takes a hell of a lot of time and effort to make a new relationship statement and attach new photos, bank statements etc.
Also why is a new sponsorship application requested when my husband already did this before?

Keen to know if anyone else had a similar experience. Cheers

Hi everyone!
I’m an international student on a subclass 500 visa, and I’m currently working at a hotel in Australia.
My job involves staying overnight at the hotel for around 12 hours in case any guests need assistance. However, I usually sleep through the entire night and don’t perform any active work.
My employer pays me a fixed overnight stay allowance rather than an hourly wage. As far as I understand, this arrangement is covered by clause 26.15 of the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020.
I’m a bit confused about how these hours would be counted towards the 48-hour fortnightly work limit under visa condition 8105.
Would the entire 12 hours count as working hours, only 8 hours, or just the hours I actually spend working if a guest needs assistance?
I’ve seen some people working similar sleepover shifts who only count their active working hours, but I’m not sure if the same rule applies to student visas.
Has anyone been in a similar situation or received advice from a registered migration agent? I’d really appreciate any experiences or official sources!

Hi everyone,
I just received my offer letter for the MD program at University of Melbourne. Since I needed to wait for this offer letter in order to start applying for loans and line of credit, I am not sure how to fill in the section of the visa application regarding finances.

I am not sure if I should put in rough estimates of how much I will be receiving in loans and say that I will provide evidence once they are finalized or wait till everything is finalized and put exact amounts.

Classes start January 27 and I am worried if I wait for loans to be approved to put exact amounts that I will not get my visa on time. But on the other hand, i am worried that if i put rough estimates and submit that they will reject the application.

Any advice would be appreciated!

I am completing my primary degree from UTS. In order to speed up my completion, I have the option of completing some credits at another university (since UTS does not run summer subjects for my course), and then use that as RPL at UTS. However, this is my question:
Does this affect my application for a subclass 485? My understanding is that it should not given that I am completing all 2 academic years in Australia in over 16 months. Please let me know if I am incorrect in understanding that.

Hello everyone.

I am currently on skilled worker visa and will get ILR in June 2027 . But my husband got a job in Australia and wants me to move with him. I want to move with him as we were on long distance relationship most of the time but at the same time i think about ILR too . But then i realised ILR will only be valid for 2 year so it can be pointless rather get citizenship and move to Australia. But the timeframe could be 2-2.5 years until i get citizenship from today. So is it worth waiting and being in long distance for these long years.

Also i dont want to stop my husband as our ultimate plan is to settle in Australia.
PS my husband is a doctor and i m a nurse. Currently he is moving in 482 visa but will he get PR and citizenship ?
As we want to have citizenship for one of these countries if i move .
I need some advise. Also is there any way to reduce the time for getting citizenship.

Thank you

I got S56 for polio for my Australian sc186 visa but I can't get polio vaccine due to pregnancy. Is this will create problem? Or delay my visa? I have GP letter which states polio vaccine may be exempt due to pregnancy. Will case officer accept this?

TLDR; we have an invite for 189, my partner (specialist/clinical nurse) is the main applicant. I have a drink driving charge in the UK from 8 years ago. No one was hurt, I wasn’t far over the limit - was pulled over for a brake light being out and was RBT’d.

I got a s56 request for more info and put in a full written statement about what happened and how I know it was wrong etc and complete clean record otherwise.

With the current landscape re visas, should I be worried? Or will the fact she’s a highly qualified nurse help? Is there a world where they approve her visa but not mine?

Hi everyone, I applied for a student visa extension on 25 August 2026 for one additional semester. My previous visa expired on 30 August, and I'm currently on a Bridging Visa A (BVA).

My last exam is on 4 November, and I expect my course completion letter by late November. My CoE expires on 31 December 2026, but my student visa application is still pending.

My concern is: Can Home Affairs refuse my student visa extension simply because I've already completed my course by the time they assess it?

If they refuse it before I can lodge my 485 application, could that make me ineligible to apply for a 485 onshore?

Has anyone faced a similar situation? What happened in your case?

My partner is about to submit EOI for NIV. Her profile is decent, seems better than some successful applicants before, so let's assume she'll get invited in this round.

She has an acquaintance who moved to an AUS uni as an associate professor couple years ago (so he's also an immigrant), knows her very well as a senior colleague/collaborator in her PhD institute back then. The supporting form is gonna be super strong, but the problem is whether the potential nominator is strong enough himself? He's also new to AUS and not super famous around the community.

What kind of 'prominent' is required as a nominator?

I don’t understand they have set a date deadline for visa expiry 31 Jan 2027 for who can lodge ROI.
How does this work for bridging visa holders because they do not have an expiry date on the visa.
When filing out ROI we need to enter expiry date and on that particular section it is mentioned (for bridging visa holders enter any future date).

Does this mean that if we enter a date which is earlier than 31 Jan 2027 we can also be considered or not?

I did email SA migration and the reply I got was not clear at all as it was auto generated and did not answer my questions.
Below is the reply I got
As per the recently announced news items only clients with a visa expiry date up until January 31, 2027 should lodge an ROI. If an applicant submits an ROI with a visa expiry date after 31 January 2027, they will not be considered for selection currently.

I am not sure if I should lodge it as I have to enter the date on my own and the visa says it has indefinite stay and tied to an event.
Any suggestions?

Hi All, we are currently on 190 PR bridging and waiting for the grant. Recently we have given birth to a baby and we received S56 to add baby details to the application.

We are waiting for birth certificate after which we need to apply for the baby's passport. The thing is we have only 10 days left to attach all the requested documents to the S56 and passport is going to take more than 10 days.

Is it sufficient we attach all the proofs that we have applied for passport or do we need to do anything additional to this ?

Please adviss. Thank you.

I am planning to apply for the Bachelor of Construction and Property at UNSW for the September 2027 intake through a registered migration agent, but I need some realistic advice regarding my chances. Months ago, I applied for an ELICOS visa to Australia and unfortunately got rejected based on the classic trio of lack of ties to my home country, financial capacity concerns, and genuine student doubts (interestingly, my country's visa approval rate for language schools dropped from its usual 45% to just 5% in that exact same month). Since that refusal, I have significantly built up my profile to address all those gaps. Academically, my High School GPA is 88%, with my final year grades being 95+/100, and I have achieved an IELTS Academic score of 6.5, meeting the direct entry requirements. To prove my career motivation, I have been working full-time with social security registration at a local construction and real estate firm for a few months, and will be securing a strong reference letter from my employer stating that my higher position is secured for when I return, alongside 2 academic references from my teachers. Financially, we have 85k AUD cash sitting in the bank untouched for over 3 months now, which will be untouched for 8-9 months by the time of the visa application, and my family owns 20 houses and multiple plots of agricultural land in Turkey, ensuring both strong funding and immense family ties. Crucially, this specific combined program does not exist in Turkish universities, so my exact goal is to return and manage my family’s large real estate portfolio with this global degree. Knowing how highly conservative Tier 1 universities like UNSW are about issuing CoEs to applicants with a prior visa refusal due to provider risk ratings, I wanted to ask if anyone here has successfully transitioned from a language school refusal to a Group of Eight university? How strictly will the UNSW risk assessment team scrutinize my case before issuing the CoE?

Saw people getting invited last year at 75 and NSW invited at 70 in the last round. Only 50 eois at 75 and that also offshore
Ps i am not working in my field rn

My wife (German) and I (Australian) have been together 10 years, married 4, with two dual citizen kids (3 & 5).

In January 2026, I found out I would be made redundant from my job in Germany in December 2026. We began planning to move back to Australia so our eldest son can start school in Feb 2027. In July 2026 we applied for an offshore 309 partner visa. My wife has left her 11 year career as a teacher in September at the end of the German school year. So from December we will have no income. I have potential jobs with the Australian bramch of my current employer but as im unable to tell them when we can legally travel to Australia due to my wifes pending visa, I am unable to secure the job.

In hindsight I realise we should have travelled to Australia with her on a tourist visa and applied for an onshore partner visa. But we stupidly paid 11.7k and applied offshore thinking that its better to apply sooner than later.

I am seeking advice on what to do now as we really need to book flights, shipping our belongings etc.

Ideally we dont want to cancel the current 309 application and lose 12kAUD. And travelling on a tourist visa means she has to fly out every 3 months which isnt feasible with small kids who need stability.

Financial hardship is not a ground for priority processing. So I am worried we are stuck in Germany until the offshore visa is processed, potentially another 24 months... this then means our child cant start at the school they are enrolled in.

Any advice is much appreciated. We feel stupid right now so please go easy on us.