The Temporary Graduate visa is suited towards international students who have graduated from an Australian educational institution. The visa lets you live and work in Australia temporarily after finishing your course, as long as you have completed at least 2 years of study in Australia.

There are two main streams for the temporary graduate visa (subclass 485) in Australia:

Graduate Work stream

This stream of the 485 visa is for international students who have recently graduated with skills and qualifications that are suited to relevant occupations in Australia. The temporary graduate visa lets you live, study, and work in Australia temporarily. To be eligible for this stream, you must nominate an occupation on the Australian Skilled Occupation List (SOL) and then study a degree that is related to this occupation. When applying, a skills assessment may take place as part of the application process to ensure you have the necessary abilities to work in your desired field within Australia.

Post-Study Work stream

This stream of the 485 visa is for international students who have recently graduated with a qualification from an Australian education institution. Like the Graduate Work stream, it lets you temporarily live, study, and work in Australia. When applying through the Post-Study work stream, you must ensure that you have a recent degree from a CRICOS (Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students) registered course. The Australian Government’s Department of Education, Skills and Employment outline a list of Australian education providers that offer courses to people who are studying in the country on student visas. However, unlike the Graduate work visa stream, you do not need to nominate an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL).

While the two streams have slight differences, they both enable you to bring your family with you to Australia.

You can include the following members in your Temporary Graduate visa application:

• Your partner
• You or your partner’s dependent child
• You or your partner’s dependent relative

With the Temporary Graduate 485 visa, you and your family can temporarily live and work in Australia, study in Australia, and travel in and out of the country with a valid visa.

However, if you are applying for the temporary graduate visa 485 as the main applicant, then you and any family covered in the application must be in Australia at the time of applying for the 485 Visa, as well as when the temporary visa is issued.

Additionally, you and your family members must also pass health and character checks for your visa application to progress. E-Help consultancy can assist you in understanding what this means for not only your application but anyone you are choosing to bring with you. Traditionally, to pass health and character checks you need to be free of any disease or condition that may be a significant healthcare or community service cost to Australia and must not have any disease/condition that threatens public health standards within the country.

You and your family must be of good character to visit or live in Australia. This requires you to pass the character test and remain of good character throughout your stay in the country. To pass the character test, the Australian Government considers a range of circumstances such as the overall protection of the Australian community – especially children, the impact that a visa refusal would have on your family in Australia, or any impact a granted visa would have on Australian businesses and community interests.

Both streams of the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) have a processing time of approximately 4 months.

Unlike Skilled Migration visa applications, the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) does not require a nomination from the state and does not require you to fill out an Expression of Interest form.

Instead, to be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485), you must:

• Hold an eligible visa.
• Meet all additional requirements for the chosen stream.
• Have a qualification in a CRICOS registered course.
• Be between the age of 18 and 45.
• For the Graduate Work stream: have a degree related to an occupation that is listed on Australia’s skilled occupation list.
• For the Post-Study work stream: must have a higher education degree or a recent qualification in a CRICOS-registered course

For both the graduate work stream and the post-study work stream, to meet the requirements for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485), you must have studied and received a degree in Australia over a minimum of 2 years. The qualification obtained must also have been received within the 6 months leading up to the postgraduate visa application. The course that you have completed must have taken at least 92 weeks of study and taken place over a minimum of 16 months. It also must have been taught in English (you may also require evidence of your English proficiency as part of your visa application and therefore, it is worthwhile to take IELTS – the International English Language Testing System, which is an English language proficiency test for study, work, and migration), and the student must have had a valid Australian visa for the duration of their course.

Your length of stay in Australia will depend on which stream you apply for. With the Graduate Work stream, the length of stay is 18 months, whereas for the Post-Study Work stream, you can stay in the country between 2 and 4 years, depending on your qualification. For example, a student with a bachelor’s degree or Master’s by coursework degree will be eligible for a 2 year stay in Australia. Conversely, someone with a research based Master’s degree is entitled to a 3 year stay, with a 4 year residency for PhD graduates.