As part of the Australian Government’s commitment to supporting migrants to settle in regional areas, changes have been made to the Post-Study Work Stream of the temporary Graduate Visa 485 that may enable you to stay longer. The visa is granted to international students who have recently graduated with a degree from an Australian institution, permitting them to temporarily live, work and study in Australia.
From 2021, the changes will offer an extra 1–2 years of working rights to international students who:
1. Have graduated with higher education or a postgraduate qualification from a regional campus of a registered university or institution
2. Maintain an ongoing residence in a regional area.
The place where you study and live will determine the duration of extension:
- An additional year will be granted to those in Category 2 — Cities and Major Regional Centres (such as Perth, Adelaide, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Canberra, Newcastle/Lake Macquarie, Wollongong/Illawarra, Geelong and Hobart).
- An additional two years will be given to those in Category 3 – Regional Centres and Other Regional Areas.
In addition to these changes, Perth and the Gold Coast are now classified as regional areas — in fact, ‘regional Australia’ now refers to anywhere except Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.