What happens if COE is cancelled in Australia?
Australian Education always attracts International students from all around the world. Studying in Australia can give you an experience that can stay with you for your entire life.
But it requires commitment. Failure to commit to your study may end up in a situation where you get your study terminated and your CoE cancelled by the Australian education provider.
Find out what happens if your CoE is cancelled in Australia, what can cause it, and what your options are in this article by education ONE!
Find out the followings in this article:
- What is a CoE and Why is It Important?
- Things leading to COE Cancellation.
- Challenges faced by International Students in Australia.
- What happens if your COE is cancelled in Australia?
- What are your options?? (a Case Study).
- How Education ONE can help you secure your Australian studies after your CoE gets cancelled in Australia?
1. What is a CoE and Why is It Important?
CoE stands for Confirmation of Enrollment. It is an official document issued by education providers in Australia to international students intending to study in Australia.
If you plan to study in Australia, you first need to apply to your preferred study provider.
The education provider will issue you a CoE once you have made a valid application and accept the Offer from your desired Australian school, College, or University.
You can find the critical information on your enrollment, such as the name of the education provider, the name of your course, course duration and its starting and ending dates, your health insurance arrangement, as well as your identification, shown in your CoE.
It is also one of the required documents when you make an application for your Student Visa to study in Australia. Without a CoE, your Student Visa application may be delayed.
Once you receive a favourable decision on your Student Visa application, you will be able to enter Australia to kick start your study.
During your stay and study in Australia, you must maintain continuous enrollment, which a valid CoE proves to the Immigration.
When cancelling a CoE, an Australian institution will directly report the CoE cancellation to the Immigration, and a Student Visa cancellation is what happens when your COE is cancelled in Australia.
So if you ask me how important it is, my answer would be, exceptionally. A Student Visa will allow you to come and stay in Australia for your study, and a valid CoE is proof that you are studying in Australia.
2. Things Leading to CoE Cancellation
After you secure a Student Visa in Australia, you must always maintain your eligibility by meeting your visa conditions:
As per the visa condition 8202 in your Student Visa (500), you must meet your course requirements by:
- Remain enrolled in a registered course (if you are a Foreign Affairs or Defence sponsored student or a secondary exchange student, you must maintain full-time enrolment in your course of study or training);
- Maintain enrolment in a registered course with the same Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level or higher for which we granted your student visa unless changing from AQF level 10 to level 9;
- Maintain satisfactory attendance in your course and course progress for each study period required by your education provider.
Note: A registered course is one that is on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS).
If you fail to meet this important condition, the Immigration can cancel your Student Visa.
Contact us here to consult what conditions you may obtain along with your Student Visa.
Read more: Handling Student Visa Cancellation As An International Student in Australia
3. Challenges Faced by International Students in Australia
Even though studying in Australia is the core purpose of an Australian Student Visa (Subclass 500), international students may face challenges in maintaining enrollment.
Being geographically and culturally different from many countries, Australia may put pressure on those pursuing their study dream, which may come in the following forms:
a. Financial Hardship
Students all over the world face financial hardship without excluding Australia. Tuition fees are high, and paying over AUD 30,000 a year is challenging and frustrating, not to mention the even higher accommodation fees.
A one-bedroom apartment in Sydney city centre can cost up to AUD 3,269.62 a month. If you are unable to pay your tuition fees before due, your school may cancel your CoE under the ground of non-payment.
b. Western Education System
China, India, and Nepal are the top three countries sending students to Australia. Students will have to face the Western education system that differs from Eastern education.
Some of the key features of Western education are active student participation, independent learning, study to understand, not memorise, and motivation and student-teacher relationships.
Adapting to the system may not be as easy and straightforward as you think. Your school will usually give you opportunities to repeat failed units but it depends on their availability and how many times you need to pass them.
Mostly, universities in Australia will allow you to repeat a unit for three to four times at maximum. What happens if you cannot pass it? Then your school may cancel your CoE.
c. Intercultural communication
Australia houses local citizens and migrants with diverse values, cultures and backgrounds, creating communication barriers.
For international students who have just started their academic journey, it can be tough to keep up with their lectures or even make acquaintances.
Difficulties in following lectures will lead to study failure and CoE cancellation in Australia.
d. Homesickness, anxiety disorder, and depression
All the challenges mentioned above may create the feeling of loneliness, unworthiness, and giving up.
International students living alone in a foreign country for the first time, away from their loving families and friends, are prone to feeling homesick.
Also, they may lose excitement to even keep up with their studies and work harder than their peers. These may lead to anxiety or depression. The fact that they are alone when facing such effects makes it even harder.
Such issues may lead to study failure. International students who face study failures or difficulties should consult their College or University’s student centre.
The student centre provides counselling sessions or other resources that are very useful to overcome your problems before they do further damage.
However, the worst case is sometimes students are not aware of their problems until it is too late. In that case, Australian institutions have a right to terminate your study.
They will provide the students with a chance to explain what happens.
The institutions then have a further right to accept the students’ appeal and grant them an opportunity to improve their scores or turn down a request for appeal.
Should the rejection happen, the Australian institutions will cancel your CoE.
4. What Happens if Your CoE is Cancelled in Australia?
Besides facing a failed investment in your studies, you may have your Student Visa (Subclass 500) affected when your CoE is cancelled in Australia.
If your CoE is cancelled in Australia, and suppose you fail to either leave the country or secure a new CoE in 28 days commencing from the date your institution is cancelling your CoE.
In that case, the Department of Immigration will cancel your Student Visa (Subclass 500), making you an unlawful citizen in Australia.
Usually, the Immigration will first send you a Notice of Intention to Consider Cancellation (NOICC) and invitation to comment. You should respond in a limited time frame.
The Immigration will cancel your Student Visa in 28 days if you do not provide comments, a new CoE, or if your comments are not compelling enough to the Immigration.
In case of a Student Visa Cancellation, you will have to arrange your departure from the country or exercise your right to appeal.
5. What Are Your Options? (a Case Study).
Now that you know what happens if CoE is cancelled in Australia, here’s what you can do next.
Arrange your Departure from the Country
Suppose you think studying in Australia is not your true calling after your CoE is cancelled in Australia. In that case, you may want to depart the country, and then cancel your Student Visa voluntarily from your home country.
It is essential to cancel your Student Visa. You can provide a statement outlining the reasons for your request to cancel with the supporting documents (cancelled CoE), rather than to have it cancelled by the Immigration without any reasons from your side, especially if you plan to make other visa applications in the future.
Secure a New CoE (Confirmation of Enrollment)
If you are not giving up on your study yet, you may save your study dream in Australia even after you got your CoE cancelled in Australia.
You can do so by getting a new Letter of Offer from the same University or another one.
After that, you may need to get a Release Letter from your previous education provider to accept your new Letter of Offer and get a new CoE.
You have to make sure that everything is done on time and in line with your Student Visa conditions. Otherwise, your efforts will go to waste.
Securing a new CoE after your previous CoE is cancelled in Australia may not be as easy as it seems because you will have to provide an additional statement.
It must explain why the new provider should accept your application and that the CoE cancellation will not happen again, which an experienced professional can help you with.
Read Also: FAQs: What happens to my Australian student visa and study in the COVID-19 pandemic
For example, a CoE Cancellation that happened to our client, Jeff (Not his real name).
A Case Study
Jeff went to Australia on a Student Visa to study a Diploma and Bachelor of Petroleum Engineering with one of the prestigious Universities in Perth.
It went all right but then fell apart when he had health problems, leading to a CoE Cancellation for his Diploma and Bachelor’s program.
Student’s background
It was his first time away from his family in a completely different country.
Everything started to fall apart when he failed most of his Diploma of Engineering subjects that resulted in CoEs being cancelled and a report sent by the school to the Immigration regarding poor academic performance.
Jeff was a high school graduate, and he is a bright student who has Grade A from his high school in Pakistan. Such a fact led him to be accepted in a distinguished field of study in Australia, i.e. Bachelor of Petroleum Engineering.
He was very excited and looked forward to starting his tertiary studies in his chosen field from one of the world’s best institutions.
Challenges while Studying in Australia
Studying in Australia required Jeff to simultaneously adapt to his new school and new environment, including different weather, time zone, food, people, culture, and lifestyle.
Not to mention that he has to face all these by himself, away from his family back home in Pakistan. The situation resulted in him getting ill and missing school exams and tasks.
Having to channel his focus on several different things simultaneously had made him neglect his health.
During this time, he got ill, and his first thought was that he would be able to cope with his studies when his condition got better.
Unfortunately, it turned out that he received a notification from the College, where he studied his Diploma of Engineering, that he had been reported to the Department of Home Affairs (Immigration) for poor academic progress.
The College had also cancelled his Confirmation of Enrolments (CoEs) and had withdrawn him from the College.
Having a 28-Day Chance After CoE Cancellation
He found out that the Department of Home Affairs will cancel his Student Visa in no more than 28 days after his CoE got cancelled.
This stressful news had awakened him. He then browsed for the options he had and sent an appeal to both his College & University.
He explained his bad health and enclosed doctor’s certificates to prove that he was ill and therefore absent from school. However, after his Academic Provider weighed his appeal letter, they decided that they could not accept it.
With over ten years of experience in the field, we got the expertise in handling complex cases. Contact us here.
Jeff was devastated to hear about this and did not want to give up as he had learned the hard way. He just wanted to pursue his studies and not waste his lifetime opportunity to get an Australian education.
He sent an appeal letter to the Overseas Student Ombudsman. Unfortunately, the Ombudsman rejected his appeal since the medical certificates he provided were insufficient to explain his poor academic results.
As the Ombudsman stated:
Dear Jeff,
Final decision on your external complaint to the Overseas Students Ombudsman
sent you my proposed decision about the intention by your College to report you for unsatisfactory course progress in the Diploma of Engineering.
You provided evidence outlining why you disagree with the proposed decision. I have considered your evidence. However, I have decided to not change the proposed decision for the following reasons:
In summary, the evidence which you have provided comprising of two medical certificate only covers 1-2 day periods during the study period
This evidence does not explain the reason for your unsatisfactory course progress or warrant compassionate or compelling circumstances.
While I understand that you do not agree with my proposed decision, the information you have presented has not changed my view.
Therefore, my final decision is that your College is required to report you to the Home Affairs and Department of Education for unsatisfactory course progress. I will write to your College to advise it of the final decision and close your complaint.
Almost running out of time, worried about what might happen after CoE cancellation, then he made the right decision.
CoE Cancellation may cause his student Visa in Australia to be cancelled. Jeff did not want to give up his studies in Australia yet he did not know what to do.
The outcome had caused him to get stressed out. He decided that he needed a second opinion from an education agent in Perth. Then he got in contact with us, education ONE.
Do you have any concerns or obstacles regarding your Australian studies? Consult it with us at no cost to you here!
Our help to Jeff’s CoE Cancellation Case
Through our sister company, ONE derland Consulting, Jeff learned about what happens after his CoE got cancelled in Australia, and that he could continue his studies in Australia.
Still, he needed to do it with another institution. Realising this, he started to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Nonetheless, he had to be enrolled with a new school immediately. He must secure new CoEs to save his Student Visa, and since his previous CoEs have been cancelled, he did not have much time.
We helped him find an institution that provided the same field of study and found another university in Perth. After reviewing his options, Jeff decided that the University is the best place to continue his Australian studies.
Due to the agreement that we have with the particular University, we sent Jeff’s application for the chosen courses. We had it treated as an urgent application.
We also guided Jeff in providing the necessary documents and additional information on his previous CoE cancellation and academic failure with his last University to the new University.
After we had sent the application, Jeff had to wait for the new University’s decision on his application. He was worried that they would reject his application.
Still, we always encouraged him to stay since they are the only other institution in Perth that offers a Bachelor of Petroleum Engineering besides his previous University.
Otherwise, he would need to move interstate. Still, we also sent an application to another College in Perth for a Diploma of Engineering as our backup plan.
The Outcome of our action to Jeff’s CoE Cancellation
We were aware that the Immigration might request information or documentation from Jeff.
Through our sister company ONEderland Consulting, we imported his Student Visa application so that he would not miss any correspondence from Immigration.
It had put him more at ease, and he was happy and patiently waiting for a reply.
Meanwhile, we got a notification that our alternative College had rejected his application for the Diploma of Engineering because they prefer students without a CoE cancellation history in Australia.
He was not happy to learn of this outcome.
Jeff thought it was most likely that the new University would also refuse his application, so he decided to wait and accept whatever the University decides.
After considering the application and all the supporting statements and documentation, the university eventually accepted his application and issued an offer.
He was more than happy to know that he finally could continue his studies in Australia.
He thought that he would need to return to his home country with shame as his failure in studying would hurt his family, and he wanted to make his parents proud.
He wants to return to Pakistan only after he got his qualifications from Australia. He chose to go on with the new college and university that accepted his applications.
After settling some administration responsibilities, he received his new CoEs, and started immediately with the new University.
He has just finished his Diploma, and is excited to begin his Bachelor’s degree.
The university responded below:
Thank you for submitting the above named student’s application to pursue studies with us.
I am pleased to inform you that the student’s application has been successful.
We are very glad of this happy ending after Jeff got his CoE cancelled in Australia.
It is our priority to assist our clients with their studies in Australia, and eventually provide the best solutions to any issues including CoE cancellation.
Good luck for your further studies in Australia, we are pleased to help you find the best place for getting Australian standard of Education, Jeff.
Words from our client:
“I was facing difficulty in finding a good university in my particular course. I was very depressed about this situation but then I heard about Education One and talk to them about my issue. They assist me in finding my university and put every effort to enrol in my particular course. Their consultant is a very kind, diligent and hardworking person. She did every possible thing for me and gave updates regularly. I am satisfied with Education One and their way to help students. Thank you”
Got a question or concern regarding your study in Australia? Don’t hesitate to contact us here.
Now that you know what happens if the COE is cancelled in Australia, how can education ONE help if this happens to you?
6. How education ONE can help you secure your Australian studies after your CoE gets cancelled in Australia?
Understandably, sometimes it may become very overwhelming for international students to meet all the study and visa conditions in Australia, especially when you must adapt quickly to your mounting study load and exams, which would be super hard if you are not in good shape.
However, you would be surprised at all the available support for you as an international student. Remember that you are just starting your great future, and we know it is not easy, but you are not alone.
Read more: New Rules for Australia Student Visa
Here at education ONE, our consultants can advise you on your eligibility to maintain your study in Australia and current available options and resources based on your situation.
Stay safe, and reach out to us, education ONE Australia through email at [email protected] or via phone at 1300 083 663.
Our professional consultants, along with our in-house Australian Registered Migration Agents, ONE derland Consulting, will give you helpful insight into the possibility of your next application.
And that’s what happens if COE is cancelled in Australia. See you in the next article!
