Australia’s simplified student visa framework ( SSVF ) changes. and How To guide for subclass 500

Australia’s simplified student visa framework (SSVF) came into effect from July 1 2016.
The following changes have come into effect from 1st July 2016:

• All the international students will apply for a single Student visa (subclass 500), regardless of their chosen course of study.
• Only student guardians will apply for the new Student Guardian visa (subclass 590).
• All students and student guardians will generally be required to lodge their visa application online by creating an account in ImmiAccount.
• The SSVF is designed to make the process of applying for a student visa simpler to navigate and without paper.

Universities selecting student:-
In this new SSVP, the universities have been divided based on their credentials. The universities will be checking if the student is meeting the GTE requirements at the level of offer letter itself.
SOP is the heart of the application and it should demonstrate the intensions of the student and it should cover all the points mentioned below.

• It should express the reasons for undertaking the particular course.
• Why you have chosen Australia over other countries.
• Why you have chosen that particular university.
• Why you have chosen that particular course
• What are your future career plans?
• How this course will be useful for your future career plans.
• What is your complete educational background?
• What is your family background? How many are in your family, what they do,…
• Your sponsor financial capacity.
• How your sponsor is related to you and why he/she is sponsoring your education.

According to new rules, the universities have changed their entry requirements and they are looking for profiles with

• Good percentages in highest qualification (60% and above).
• IELTS score of 6.5 overall with no band less than 6 for most of the course depending on the universities and ELICOS will be given only if it is only .5 less than the requirement.
• Backlogs should not be more than 20 in their highest qualification.

Documents needed for Visa Purpose:-
Once you login to Immigration website, you need to select the subclass, your education provider from the list available at: Education providers and country of origin.
By selecting all these, it will display the requirements for the visa purpose.
The universities are divided into Pool 1 Pool2 .Pool1 universities are at low risk, and rests of the universities are considered as Pool 2 universities.
If the university is in POOL 1 list and the student is from Low risk country, then it is possible to lodge the student visa application without much evidence of English and financial sources.
If you are applying visa with offer from other than POOL 1 universities, then you need to show below funds:

• 1 year of tuition fees
• 1 year of living expenses (AUS$19,830 for student, AUS$ 6,940 for spouse, AUS$ 2,970 for each child)
• Valid health insurance for the entire duration of the course

Who can be the Sponsor?

• A close Relative (should 60-70% of the required funds)
• 3rd party sponsor (only 30% of the required funds)

The sources of funds (annual income) can be in the form of

• Salaried Income
• Business Income
• Agriculture Income
• Rental Income
• Pension Income
• others

The liquid funds (1 year expenses) to be shown for the visa purpose should be from some of the following sources:

• Fixed Deposits(more than 3 months old)
• Savings(more than 3 months old)
• Educational Loan
• Insurance Policies(surrender values)

Under Student visa subclass 500 the student must follow below mentioned rules:

• The Student needs to maintain 80% of attendance.
• The Student needs to maintain 50% of marks in all subjects.
• The Student is allowed to work 40hours per fortnight basis.
• The Student cannot change the University for 6months upon enrollment.
• The Student must have a valid health insurance for the entire duration of stay in Australia.
• The Student must have to notify to university/DIBP if he/her change the address/Contact details within 7 working days.

From 1 July 2016, family members of Student visa holders (subclasses 570-576) will need to apply for a subclass 500 visa if they want to join a family member in Australia.