The Temporary Graduate (Subclass 485) visa allows international students who have successfully completed their studies in Australia, to remain in the country for work experience purposes. This visa allows students to remain in Australia to gain the practical skills and knowledge in their chosen occupation. The Temporary Graduate visa is extremely beneficial for applicants, as being on this visa can add point to the “Expression of Interest” requirement when applying for one of the Skilled visas.
While applying for the Temporary Graduate visa may appear quite straightforward, a small mistake could result in getting your application refused. Unfortunately, in the past many applicants have often overlooked some detail, or they may have misunderstood what they are required to do at which stage of the process. As a result, this may lead to grounds of having the visa application refused by the “Department of Home Affairs”. This in turn may lead to several months of headaches spent appealing the decision at the “Administrative Appeals Tribunal”.
One of the more common mistakes applicants make is in relation to the health insurance requirement and when to submit this document. This requires that applicants must have made adequate arrangements for health insurance, which must be submitted with their application. If evidence of health insurance is not submitted at time of the application, it may be considered that the applicant did not meet the qualifying criteria for the Subclass 485 visa and their application may be refused.
In most cases, the problems associated with this visa subclass arise from the complex wording in the legislation. This piece of legislation reads: “When the application was made, it was accompanied by evidence that the applicant had adequate arrangements in Australia for health insurance”. Most applicants understand ‘accompanied by’ to mean that there is some amount of flexibility as to when the evidence of health insurance can be submitted. This is a wrong interpretation of the requirement. The correct interpretation is that applicants must submit the evidence of health insurance “at the same time” or “close to” the lodgement date of their visa application.
Therefore, it is in the best interest of the applicant when submitting their documents via their ImmiAccount, to upload their health insurance documents immediately after submitting their visa application.
The best way to resolve this predicament is by making sure that you have all your required documents ready at hand when you are lodging your application. This way you can upload your documents immediately after you submit your visa application, saving you time and money further down the track.
If you do not have the evidence of health insurance ready at hand for whatever reason, it is advisable to inform “Home Affairs” that the evidence will be obtained and submitted at the earliest time possible.
If you receive a notification from the department requesting you to submit evidence of health insurance, it is in your best interest to comply and submit the documents within the specified time frame so that your application may proceed without any further setbacks.
Despite what you may have heard, getting approved for the Temporary Graduate visa is not all that easy. Making a minor mistake in your application submission may lead to your application being refused. One-way to avoid this disastrous situation is by getting help from a Registered Migration Agent. A migration agent will go over all your documents carefully prior to lodgement and will give you valuable advice and suggestions that will ensure the best chances of success.
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