How to emigrate to Australia with Family

Australia has become a very popular destination around the world, with great opportunities to study and work. In this guide, we will explain how you should organise yourself to come to Australia with a family, including your partner and children. This guide is intended for those who want to live, work and travel in Australia with family. Despite there are many types of visas in Australia that allow you to work and live here, at Puravida Study we believe that the best option is through a Student Visa. If you want to explore other visas or options, you can enter here or contact us at info@puravidastudy.com.au to communicate with a migration agent. If you want to explore the idea of ​​studying and living in Australia with your family, read all you need to know below.

Student Visa

Australia has a wide variety of courses and programs to study, even some of the best Universities in the world are located here! Not only the educational offer is very good, but Australia also offers you some of the best cities in the world to live in, great quality of life, and the opportunity to work while you study.

If you plan to come to Australia on a student visa, you will need to study a full-time course with a minimum of 12 weeks of study at a university/college certified by the Australian government. Your visa will cover the study period plus additional vacation time, which will vary depending on the duration of the course you choose. The cost of applying for this visa is $ 620 AUD (September 2020). When you decide to study and come with your family, you can do it easily! All you need to do is include your partner and children in the visa application, and pay for their visa as well, which costs $ 460 AUD for your partner’s visa and $ 150 AUD for children under 18 years of age.

Requirements for a Student Visa:

  • Passport: your passport and your dependents’ passports must be valid for at least 6 months when travelling internationally.
  • Course Enrollment: To start studying in Australia, you will need a student visa which will only be approved and provided when you enrol in a course at a school of your choice.
  • Visa: After enrolling in your chosen school, you can apply for a student visa at the Australian immigration department, including your partner and children. In order to include them, you must demonstrate that your relationship is legitimate, provide evidence of marriage or de facto relationship.
  • Health insurance: to apply for a student visa, an OSHC (Overseas Student Health Cover) is required, which must last for the entire period of your stay. This same insurance must also include your family.
  • Vaccines: depending on your nationality or the countries you visited in the last 3 months before your trip, you will need to provide the yellow fever vaccine, just like your family.
  • Letter of Intent: You will need to write a letter to the Australian immigration department explaining the reasons why you want to study in Australia. They only accept genuine students. Check this article to understand how to write it.

In addition, you may be required to present the following documents:

  • Proficiency in English: it will depend on the type of course you have chosen. The school may request a proficiency level test before accepting your application.
  • Certificates of previous education: again it will depend on the type of course you have chosen. The school may request a certificate of prior studies before accepting your application.
  • Financial proof: depending on your nationality and type of course and school/university, you will be asked to prove that you have sufficient financial funds to cover the course fees and your stay for one year. In addition, the amount of money that you must prove is conditional on the number of family members that you include in your visa.

How to include your partner and children in the application of the Student Visa

Whenever you include your partner on your Student Visa, you must prove that your relationship is legitimate, provide evidence of marriage or de facto relationship. If you do not have a marriage certificate, you must show that the relationship is legitimate and lasts for at least one year. You must show evidence about:

  • A mutual commitment to your spouse or partner to the exclusion of everyone else.
  • Your relationship is genuine and ongoing.
  • They live together or they do not live permanently apart.
  • They are not related by family.

To demonstrate these points, you have to present the following documents:

For more information enter here.

It is not necessary to present all the documents mentioned in the previous table, but the more you can collect the better the result.

Work with a Student Visa

As we mentioned previously, a very great attraction of being a student in Australia is the possibility of working legally. As a student, you can work up to 40 hours a fortnight while your classes are active, but on vacations, you can work 40 hours a week! In addition, your partner will have the same job opportunities if you study a technical, bachelor’s, vocational, or English course. But if you decide to study a master’s, doctorate or postgraduate degree, your partner will be able to work full-time for the entire duration of the visa!

Medical coverage for your family

A great concern that all of our students have when choosing to migrate with their family is to be sure that they will have medical coverage during their stay. When you come to study in Australia with a student visa, one of the conditions of the visa is to have student health insurance called OSHC. This insurance covers any type of emergency and basic medical services and is only offered by Australian companies. If you want to know a little more about the coverage you can click here. In general, the insurance for one year per person costs approximately AUD $ 1237. If you come with a family, the coverage is different and it can cost around $ 2,474 AUD if there are two members in the family, and $ 3,606 AUD if there are three (for example, a couple and one child).

If you want to understand what this medical insurance covers you can enter here.

Education of children

For those couples travelling with children to Australia, some details should be taken into account:

  • If your child is less than 5 years old, he/she does not have the obligation to go to a “Childcare” or school. But if you decide to send it, the cost starts at $ 80 AUD per day.
  • If your child is over 5 years old, they have the obligation to send him/her to school. In this case, the annual cost to send it to a school is approximately $ 10,000 AUD minimum. These costs can vary depending on the city and state where you decide to live, for example, if you decide to live in Adelaide you can access free education for your children.

There is no language requirement to enrol your children in school, and the State in which you decide to live will guide you to what level/grade corresponds to the child’s age.

So, how much does it cost to emigrate with family to Australia?

Depending on the type of course you choose, the duration and how many members are in your family, the costs may vary. Below we share possible scenarios with different costs and options. Remember that all this information is very general, if you prefer a personalized quote and check on discounts or promotions, contact us today at info@puravidastudy.com.au

* When you apply for a student visa, you must pay in advance the entire medical insurance for the duration of your visa. For example, if your visa lasts two years you will have to pay the two years of medical insurance in advance, if your visa lasts 6 months you will have to pay the 6 months of medical insurance in advance.

* The payments to the courses depend on the schools, most receive payments in instalments. If you study at a university, you will have to pay quarterly if your subjects are quarterly, or each semester if your subjects are delivered semester-based.

* In Universities, the initial payment is only for the 1st Trimester or Semester of the course you have chosen, plus the cost of the Visa and OSHC Health Insurance.

* When you study an English course, you can vary the number of weeks you want to take the course. Keep in mind that the longer you study you will be able to pay in higher instalments for your course.

* If you have already studied a technical or university course in your country and present a university document with the approved subjects, you will be able to earn CREDITS at your future university in Australia. This means that you can validate those subjects to study for a shorter time, and therefore pay less as well. Even so, we advise that the minimum studies be 92 weeks, in order to apply to the Graduate Skill Visa Subclass 485 once you finish.

We hope this guide helps you clarify your doubts about how to emigrate with your family to Australia with a Student Visa. Remember to contact us at info@puravidastudy.com.au to get individual advice, check out promotions and discounts, and find the perfect course for you. You can also leave us a comment below with your questions.

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See you in Australia mate!

Josefina

An Argentina passionate about travelling, cooking, interested in sustainability and always learning new things. After having travelled and lived in Australia, she is now studying a master's degree in Sydney and sharing her experience with all those who want to come!

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