International Student! Are you thinking of changing your course of study or education provider?
If you hold a student visa and you have a new idea and want change your course of study, you need to make sure that you continue to meet all the conditions that apply to your student visa.
When you have not yet completed six months of the main course of study you are undertaking and you want to change your education provider, it is possible. The ESOS National Code says: You need to have permission from your existing education provider to recent education provider in order to transfer.
All education providers have document procedures for the transfer policy. That’s why you need to first consider your request for transfer. Make sure you understand the policy, about what your written agreement says you need to do before you attempt to enroll with a new education provider.
If your education provider says “I do not allow”, this means that they do not give you permission to transfer to another education provider. If you don’t feel satisfied, you can appeal the education provider’s decision at an external complaint handling body such as the State or Territory Ombudsman or the Overseas Student Ombudsman.
If you education provider or change courses and your new Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) for your main course has a shorter end date, you must depart Australia or apply for a new visa within 28 days of completing your principal course or your visa might be considered for cancellation.
All details about the course transfer will be notified electronically by your education provider. So, you do not need to give CoE.
Students holding a Student visa (subclass 500)
Are you a student visa holder subclass 500 and want to change your course?
If you are a student visa holder subclass 500 and want to change your main course of study to a lower Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) level or a non-AQF level course, you will need to change to a new student visa.
If you are studying a non-AQF course and want to transfer to an AQF course, or vice versa, you don’t need to apply for a new student visa.
Students holding a Student visa (subclass 570 – 576)
If you want to change to a course that is in a different education sector to your current course,
For example;
You want to change from an ELICOS course to a Diploma course.
You will need to apply for a new Student Visa (subclass 500). Why?, because your visa subclass will not be appropriate for your new course (or package of courses).
If your visa was granted under Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP), what do you do?
You must continue to satisfy the requirement for the grant of the visa or we could consider canceling your visa if you seek to transfer to a different education provider who was not an eligible education provider (before 1 July 2016) if:
- It is within the first 12 months of your visa being granted, or
- You are not from a country that was Assessment Level 1 before 1 July 2016.
For those of you who are still confused about how to change a course in Australia when using student visa subclass 500 or 570-576, and would like to consult on some issues of studying abroad, you can contact us at [email protected].
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