Temporary Graduate visa

Condition 8534, used on student visas, blocks any onshore substantive visa other than a protection visa, a Subclass 485 Temporary Graduate visa or a Subclass 590 Student Guardian visa.

In the 485 charge table a "PHE visa" means a 485 granted in the Post-Study Work or Post-Higher Education Work stream, or a Replacement-stream 485 held by someone who earlier held a Post-Study Work 485.

Condition 8501 is the requirement to keep adequate arrangements for health insurance for as long as the visa holder is in Australia.

The Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) is a temporary visa that lets international students live, study and work in Australia after they finish their studies.

For Temporary Graduate visa purposes, an eligible student visa is any student visa except a visa granted to a Foreign Affairs or Defence student, or granted because the person is a family member of a student visa holder.

Instrument LIN 22/022 sets the postcodes of the two kinds of regional area: s 3(1) lists the designated city or major regional centre type (for example NSW 2259 and 2264 to 2308, Victoria 3211 to 3232, and every Australian Capital Territory postcode) and s 3(2) lists the regional centre or other regional area type.

A Direct Entry applicant needs a suitable skills assessment from the relevant assessing authority, not an assessment made for a 485 visa, and it must still be valid or issued no more than 3 years before the application.

Citizens holding a valid passport from Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, the UK or the US do not have to meet the 485 English test requirement.

A Post-Vocational Education Work stream 485 applicant must show a skills assessment from the relevant assessing authority made within the last 3 years and still within any stated validity period.

The TRA Migration Skills Assessment Program is not open to people seeking licensed occupations (air conditioning and refrigeration mechanic, electrician general or special class, plumber general) or applying for a 485 or 482 visa.

A Subclass 485 applicant does not have to meet the English test or passport requirement of clause 485.212(1) if they meet clause 485.232, 485.233, 485.234 or 485.235 (a second or later 485 based on earlier regional study) or nominated the Replacement stream.

The Skills in Demand 482 and Temporary Graduate 485 are also granted with condition 8501, so holders must keep health insurance too; the Regulations impose it in every case.

For the 485, IELTS needs an average band of 6.5 with at least 5.5 in each component, PTE Academic 55 overall (40/42/41/39) and TOEFL iBT 81 total (12/12/14/17), for tests on or after 7 August 2025.

Hong Kong and British National (Overseas) passport holders applying for the 485 get lower English minimums, for example IELTS average 6.0 with 5.0 in each component.

A 485 primary applicant must be 35 or younger, but the limit is under 50 for holders of Hong Kong or British National (Overseas) passports and for those who completed a masters by research or a doctorate.

Counting the visa being applied for, a person cannot hold more than 4 Temporary Graduate (485) visas in total.

For the 485 Post-Vocational Education Work and Post-Higher Education Work streams, the IELTS requirement is an average band score of at least 6.5 with at least 5.5 in each component, for IELTS Academic and General Training.

For the 485 Post-Vocational Education Work and Post-Higher Education Work streams, the PTE Academic requirement is an overall score of at least 55 with at least 40 listening, 42 reading, 41 writing and 39 speaking.

A Subclass 485 applicant must have reached the required English score within the 1 year before the application, and C1 Advanced is not accepted for the score requirement even though it appears on the list of specified tests.

A 485 English test score must have been achieved within the 1 year before the visa application was made.

Study Australia says the Post-Higher Education Work stream usually runs 2 to 3 years depending on the qualification, the Post-Vocational Education Work stream up to 18 months, and Hong Kong and British National (Overseas) passport holders may stay for 5 years.

The Replacement stream required the application to be made before 1 July 2024 and a first 485 visa granted before 15 December 2021, so it is closed to new applicants.

The Replacement stream of the Temporary Graduate (485) visa could only be applied for before 1 July 2024, so it is closed to new applications.

A Temporary Graduate 485 applicant who falls in none of the lower rows (for instance, a non-Pacific passport holder who is not applying in the Post-Higher Education Work stream as a PHE visa holder) pays a first instalment of $5,750 for the main applicant, $2,875 for each additional applicant aged 18 or over and $1,450 for each under 18; the second instalment is nil.

A lower 485 charge of $2,265 (main), $1,140 (additional adult) and $575 (additional child) applies to a Post-Higher Education Work applicant who already holds a PHE visa and has no Pacific-regional passport.

Pacific-regional passport holders applying for a 485 pay a first instalment of $930 for the main applicant ($465 per additional adult, $235 per additional child) if they apply in the Post-Higher Education Work stream while holding a PHE visa, and $2,360 ($1,180 per additional adult, $595 per additional child) if they do not hold a PHE visa.

From 1 March 2026 the first instalment of the Temporary Graduate (485) visa charge rose, for applicants who are not subsequent 485 applicants and do not hold an eligible Pacific or Timor-Leste passport, to $4,600 for the main applicant, $2,300 for an additional adult and $1,160 for an additional child.

For a Subclass 485 (Skilled Provisional Class VC) application by anyone outside the Pacific-passport and PHE-visa tiers, the first-instalment charge is AUD5,750 for the primary applicant, AUD2,875 per added adult and AUD1,450 per added child under 18.

A Subclass 485 applicant in the Post-Higher Education Work stream who already holds a PHE visa pays a lower base charge of AUD2,265 if without a Pacific-regional passport (AUD1,140 per added adult, AUD575 per added child), and AUD930 with a Pacific-regional passport. A PHE visa is a Post-Study Work or Post-Higher Education Work stream 485, or a Replacement-stream 485 held by someone who earlier had a Post-Study Work one.

Study Australia says an applicant must apply for the eligible stream of the Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa and cannot change streams after applying.

An applicant normally lodges from inside Australia (not in immigration clearance); Replacement-stream applicants and some family members of existing visa holders may apply from outside, and the visa may be granted in or outside Australia.

A primary applicant for the Temporary Graduate (485) visa must nominate only one stream in the application.

The Regulations give the Temporary Graduate (485) visa the Post-Vocational Education Work, Post-Higher Education Work and Replacement streams, and the primary criteria that apply depend on the stream the applicant nominates.

A 485 applicant with a valid passport from Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom or the United States, and citizenship of that country, does not need to show a language test.

The Regulations require condition 8501 (health insurance) on every Temporary Graduate (485) visa, and condition 8610 on a subsequent Post-Higher Education Work visa granted under clauses 485.232-485.235 and on its secondary visa holders.

The 2026 change that moved the surveyor assessing authority from GCA to ISNSW (LIN 26/027 Sch 1 items 1 and 3) applies to applications made but not finally determined on or after 8 October 2025, except where the application includes a surveyor skills assessment dated on or before 21 August 2025.

The minister said that family members will no longer be able to be attached to international students' visas or to graduate visas, with exceptions such as PhD students and students from the Pacific and ASEAN, while people already onshore with family attached will keep them.