Receiving student visa cancellation while studying in Australia can cause a mix of various emotions into one, such as anger, sadness and fear, leading to panic and not knowing what steps to take next.
Australian student visa cancellation is when the immigration of Australia cancels a student visa issued for an international student studying in Australia.
Even if emotions are mixed, it’s better if you stay calm because education ONE is here! In this article, we are going to elaborate on the reasons why this happens. Let’s first understand all the causes, consequences, and steps that can be taken after receiving a student visa cancellation in Australia.
Read this entire article, or just jump to the part you want to read; here’s what we’ll cover in this article:
- What Happens If Your Student Visa is Cancelled?
- Reasons for Student Visa Cancellation
- Notification and Process of Visa Cancellation
- Actions After Visa Cancellation
- Voluntary Cancel Your Australian Student Visa
Don’t panic, you can directly contact education ONE here or book a free initial assessment with our Career Development Consultants. Let’s start the article if you want to know in advance.
Note: This article provides general information and should not be considered legal advice; consult with our migration agents to best understand your case.
What Happens If Your Student Visa is Cancelled?
Yep, consequences will always be received when you fail to meet the conditions in your student visa. Unsurprisingly, many people take advantage of the ‘loophole’ in Australian student visas, aiming not to study but to work.
To avoid the consequences of having your student visa cancelled in Australia, take good care of your studies and do everything with official permission from the Australian Government. These are the consequences you will receive if you experience a student visa cancellation in Australia.
The requirement to leave Australia
Without a valid student visa that has been cancelled, you will no longer have official permission from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to study, live and work in Australia, so you will be declared an illegal person in Australia.
You will be given 28 days to leave Australia to prepare to return to your country of origin; you can apply for a new visa from outside Australia which we will discuss in another section of this article.
A potential ban on re-entering Australia
While being in Australia without a valid visa is illegal, you may be arrested and detained in an immigration detention centre. You may then be subject to a three-year exemption period to obtain any Australian visas. Even then, you may have difficulty getting a visa from another country.
Disruption of academic plans and financial loss
Have you planned your long-term study in Australia? If so, getting your student visa cancelled can seriously disrupt your initial plans.
Remember, everything you have invested can be lost instantly when you get this visa cancellation; none of the time, effort and money you have used to pay for tuition and living expenses in Australia goes back into your pocket.
Plus, you won’t get your degree and all the benefits Australia offers through a study pathway, such as getting a temporary graduate visa for a longer stay to apply the knowledge you’ve learned during your course.
Reasons for Student Visa Cancellation
Why was your visa cancelled by the Department of Home Affairs Australia? Your visa may be cancelled for five reasons (but not limited to): you are non-compliant with visa conditions, you are not meeting health and character requirements, you provided false information or bogus documents, your study circumstances change, and cancellation of your COE.
We explain each of the causes in the next section below.
Your student visa will be cancelled if you are non-compliant with these visa conditions
Your student visa will come with several conditions imposed on you, as seen below. These include what you can and can’t do while on your student visa. Please note that as long as your student visa is still active, you must comply with all the conditions.
In general, these are the conditions that may come with your student visa, as we have summarised below:
Maintain health insurance (visa condition 8501)
This condition means that you must maintain adequate arrangements for health insurance (generally Overseas Student Health Cover) while you are in Australia. You must not enter Australia before your Overseas Student Health Cover has begun.
You are not permitted to remain in Australia after your Overseas Student Health Cover has expired. If you are a student from Norway, Belgium or Sweden you may not need to maintain Overseas Student Health Cover.
Work limitation (visa condition 8105)
This condition means that you must not engage in any work before your course of study commences. You are also not permitted to work more than 48 hours per fortnight when you are in Australia when your course of study is in session.
Note the 48 hour requirement does not apply if you are engaged in work that was specified as a requirement of the course when the course particulars were entered into the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students and the student visa was granted for a masters degree by research or doctoral degree.
Meet course requirements (visa condition 8202)
This condition means that you must be enrolled in a full-time course and satisfy the course requirements of your enrolment including the course level, course progress and course attendance. Unless you are a Defence, Foreign Affairs or secondary exchange student, the course you are undertaking must be a registered course with the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS).
The course you are undertaking must give you a qualification from the Australian Qualifications Framework that is at the same level or higher level than the student visa stream mentioned in your grant letter.
Must maintain eligibility (visa condition 8516)
This condition means that you must continue to maintain your eligibility as a person who would satisfy the criteria for the grant of your visa.
Maintain education for dependants (visa condition 8517)
This condition means that you must ensure that adequate schooling arrangements are maintained for your school age dependents who will be in Australia for more than three months on the visa.
Under 18 approve welfare (visa condition 8532)
This condition means that you must maintain adequate accommodation, support and general welfare arrangements. You are not permitted to change those arrangements without the approval of your education provider. This should be in writing. You are not allowed to enter Australia before the date specified by your education provider.
Inform education provider of address (visa condition 8533)
This condition means that you must notify your education provider within seven days after arriving in Australia of your residential address (if you were outside of Australia at time of grant). In all cases, you are also required to notify them of any change to your residential address in Australia within seven days after the change.
If you intend to change education provider you are required to notify your former education provider within seven days after receiving an electronic Confirmation of Enrolment (COE) or other evidence of enrolment.
Failure to always meet all the conditions during the validity period of your visa will lead to a visa cancellation.
Contact us now for guidance on your student visa conditions in Australia.
You did not meet the health and character requirements and it will lead to a student visa cancellation
The Minister has the ability to cancel your visa on the off chance that you don’t meet their character assessment.
The Minister may cancel your visa in case that you have ever been sentenced to a year or more of detainment or have been indicted for, had a charge demonstrated for or have been seen as guilty of a sexually based crime involving a child.
You will have 28 days to settle on representations why you think the decision to cancel your visa should be renounced. The Immigration will consider all the conditions of your case before they respond.
In different situations where you are judged to have failed to meet the character requirements, you will be allowed an opportunity to appeal with reasons why your visa should not be cancelled.
Providing false information on your student visa application
You must provide accurate information along with your visa application. In case immigration have granted your visa, and find out on a later date that a part of or all of the information you provided in your student visa application is inaccurate, they will have the power to cancel your visa.
Never put any false or bogus information. The immigration will conduct a comprehensive and thorough assessment on your application. They will do every necessary check to confirm the information you provided is legitimate. Please think twice before providing false or bogus information!
A change of circumstances on your study program.
A change in your study programs has to be promptly updated to the Department of Home Affair (DHA), otherwise this may lead to your student visa being cancelled. Changes in study program may include the following:
- You complete the course for which the Australian Immigration Department granted your student visa and you do not leave Australia or apply for a new visa within the validity period of your visa;
- You complete your course earlier, and do not leave Australia or apply for a new visa in 28 days;
- You have changed courses since The Australian Immigration Department granted your student visa, and your new Confirmation of Enrollment (COE) for your principal course has an earlier end date and you do not leave Australia or apply for a new visa within 28 days of completing the course;
- You have changed courses that, once completed, will provide a qualification from the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) that is at the lower level than the registered course in relation to which the visa was granted;
- You are studying more than one courses on your visa (course packaging) and you finish a course early and have a gap between courses of more than 2 months (except if this gap occurs between the end of an academic year and the beginning of a new academic year);
- You are terminated from school due to performance or attendance failure.
Read more: 5 Cases When Your Study Situation Has Changed – The Ultimate Guide
Not sure if a change in circumstances will affect your Visa in Australia? Speak to our consultant now for free consultation.
COE cancellation
If you do not have a valid Confirmation of Enrollment (CoE) then you are heading to a student visa cancellation because one of the requirements for holding a 500 (student) visa is that you are enrolled, and remain enrolled, in an eligible course of study.
Education providers are required to update immigration regularly on a number of matters relating to international students including; attendance, value and registration status.
Nobody wants COE cancellation, but if you happen to be in a situation where your school terminated your study, usually, the school will provide you an opportunity to make an appeal where you can send a written statement on why you should be given another chance by the school to improve your grades and attendance, and the reasons for your previous failure along with the supporting documents.
If you fail to provide a reasonable statement and the school rejects your COE cancellation appeal, you can make a complaint to the ombudsman of Australia.
Contact us here for guidance in making strong COE cancellation appeal statements.
If it remains unsuccessful, your school will cancel your COE or Certificate of Enrollment, which technically will result in student visa cancellation in 28 eight days.
During such a duration, you could leave Australia and cancel your student visa from your side or be enrolled in another study program and/or provider, and provide a new COE to the immigration.
Failure in doing so will result in an automatic student visa cancellation that will make your stay unlawfully in Australia. This will affect your immigration history and make future visa applications much more difficult.
Read more: I am an international Student in Australia, can I change my study provider?
Notification and Process of Visa Cancellation
Australian visas are never cancelled without the holder being notified by the Department of Home Affairs and will go through several processes which will involve everyone who needs to know.
Check out the notification and process for cancelling an Australian student visa below.
Initiation of the cancellation process by the Department of Home Affairs.
In the event that you quit studying and stay in Australia, at that point there is a decent possibility that your school will contact Home Affairs and inform them that you are not studying or meeting the minimum attendance or performance requirement.
The Department of Home Affairs begins the cancellation process when they become aware of a potential issue that might justify cancelling a visa. This can be caused by non-compliance with visa conditions, violation of regulations, or a change in circumstances.
Issuance of a Notice of Intent to Consider Cancellation (NOICC) outlining the reasons and providing an opportunity to respond.
Once the department has identified potential reasons for visa cancellation, they issue a Notice of Intent for Consideration of Cancellation (NOICC) to visa holders. NOICC outlines reasons for consideration of visa cancellation and provides a specified period (usually around 5 – 7 days) for the visa holder to respond.
Response from the visa holder explaining their side of the situation
Visa holders have the opportunity to respond to NOICC within the given timeframe to explain their side of the situation, provide any evidence or documentation to support their case, and address the reasons stated in the NOICC.
Evaluation of the response and evidence by the authorities
The Department of Home Affairs will review the responses and evidence submitted by the visa holder to assess whether the information provided is relevant and sufficient to address the reasons stated in the NOICC.
This evaluation will help to determine whether the cancellation should proceed for execution or the response can be accepted by the Department of Home Affairs to keep your student visa valid.
Issuance of a formal visa cancellation notice if the authorities decide to proceed with cancellation
If the DHA decides to proceed with the cancellation based on their assessment of the response and evidence, they will issue a formal notification of visa cancellation to you as the student visa holders.
This notification outlines the decision to cancel the visa, determines the effective date of cancellation, and provides information about review and appeal options.
Options for review and appeal available to the visa holder
Even though you have received a formal letter to cancel your student visa in Australia, you still have the opportunity to appeal and review the decision that was previously taken. You have the following options for review and appeal:
You as a student visa holder can apply for a review on the basis of merits through the Administrative Court of Appeal (AAT). AAT is an independent agency that reviews administrative decisions made by government agencies, including visa cancellations.
For more information about this review and appeal on AAT, let’s dive deeper on the next section below.
Actions After Visa Cancellation
Once your student visa gets cancelled, you have 28 days to leave the country or 7 – 21 days to make an appeal to the AAT.
Seek legal advice and assistance to understand your available options.
Make an appeal for a merit review to Administrative Appeal Tribunal
After visa cancellation, you cannot apply for SV. Please refer to this article from the Department of Home Affairs.
“Not had a visa cancelled or an application refused.”
If you want to continue your studies, you can only do so if you appeal to AAT, and AAT wins the case. Otherwise, you can’t.
You will also be entitled to apply to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for a merits review of the cancellation decision. Under such circumstances, you have to make a quick decision as each option has its own consequences.
What will all these mean for you and what rights will you have? These are important questions which an experienced professional can help you with. Get more information on making an appeal to AAT, and what will happen if the appeal is not successful here.
Voluntary Cancel Your Australian Student Visa
You might want to voluntarily cancel your student visa for a number of reasons mainly because of a change in your study or career plan, unforeseeable circumstances, and or if you have applied for a Permanent Visa.
In the event that you are looking to return home and will not return to Australia before your course ends, at this point you should consider voluntarily cancelling your student visa.
In this case, we recommend you only cancel your student visa once you have left Australia. In general, it can take roughly three until five weeks for the Department of Home Affairs to cancel your visa.
If you are planning to stay in Australia, cancelling your student visa may have its consequences. We highly recommend you book a consultation with our in-house registered migration professional from ONE derland Consulting beforehand.
Experiencing Student Visa Cancellation? We Are Here for You!
Cancellation of your student visa can be a devastating experience. However, contacting a Registered Migration Agent in Australia may be beneficial.
- We have years of experience in helping thousands of international students to overcome their visa cancellation no matter how complex the circumstances.
- We treat every individual differently based on their situation to determine the best options for their future visa.
- We look forward to assisting you with your visa and dreams of studying in Australia.
Aside from just giving you certain information and advice on your current status in Australia, a Registered Migration Agent can also help you with the best options possible regarding your situation.
In addition, it is always nice to feel the security of hiring professionals to take care of your case, right?
If you are unsure about the next step or the options you have after student visa cancellation or after receiving notice of intention to cancel, or if you want to discuss your visa matter, book a FREE student visa consultation with one of our Career Development Consultants, or contact us at education ONE Australia through email at [email protected] or via phone at 1300 083 663.
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- We’ve partnered with a highly rated Australian Registered Migration Agent so that any of your student visa problems could be solved legally.
