How can I apply for TR (485 visa) in Australia?

TR visa or SC 485 visa is the temporary graduate visa which allows foreign students to live, study and work in Australia upon completing their studies. It has two streams: Graduate Work Stream and Post-Study Work Stream. Students are generally given between 18 months and up to 4 years to stay in Australia. The duration of the stay will depend on the course of study.

Duration of the SC 485

Graduated from:	Duration
Diploma or trade qualification	Usually up to 18 months
Bachelor degree	2 years
Masters by coursework	2 years
Masters by research	3 years
PhD	4 years

Graduate work stream eligibility

• You must be under 50 years of age
• You must meet the Australian study requirement that is your course is registered with CRICOS, and the course must be for at least 92 weeks.
• The qualification must be related to an occupation that is on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List.
• You must meet the English requirement
• You must have adequate health insurance.

Post-Study work stream eligibility

• You must be under 50 years of age
• You must meet the Australian study requirement that is your course is registered with CRICOS, and the course must be for at least 92 weeks.
• You must hold an eligible qualification at degree-level or above, that is if you completed a certificate III or a diploma, you would not qualify for this stream.
• You must meet the English requirement
• You must have adequate health insurance.

How to apply?

If you meet the above criteria, the next step is the prepare the documents to apply for the visa. Documents you will need include:

• Identity documents, e.g. passport, national ID
• Study documents, e.g. academic transcripts, testamur
• Health insurance documents, e.g. letter from the insurance company
• Character documents, e.g. police clearance

If you are adding your family to the visa applications, you must prepare identity documents and other supporting documents for them.

Recent announcements (overseas online study)

Morrison government is expected to introduce new changes to the temporary graduate visa SC 485. Under the recent proposal being considered by the Morrison government, international students may be granted work rights after graduating despite studying online in their home countries.

Currently, the SC 485 is only eligible for students who have resided in Australia for the duration of their studies. But with the new proposal, international students who remained overseas but enrolled at an Australia university may be eligible for a SC 485 visa.

You can find out more:

• Australia announces important visa changes to support international students
• Likely Changes to Temporary Graduate Visa for International Students Studying Online

Recent announcements (additional 1 or 2 years of TR for studying in regional areas)

DHA announced there will be an extra one or two year of post-study work rights for international students who:

• graduate from the regional campus of a registered university or institution with a higher education or postgraduate qualification; and
• maintain ongoing residence in a regional area while holding their first Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa

The second Temporary Graduate visa will require ongoing residence in a regional area.

The definition of regional Australia for this purpose will be the same as the definition for skilled migration – all of Australia excluding Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Please note these changes have been announced, but the legislation / criteria has not been published yet. We will publish updates on our website as soon as they are available.

• The visa has been announced, but the legislation / criteria has not been published
• It has commonly been deduced what they mean is that it is only for people who graduated after 16/11/2019 (the date of announcement) this would work as the commencement date was two years in the future ruling out
• You cannot make any decisions based on this visa as the visa has only been announced we do not know the criteria or even if it will be implemented (but it 99% will be)

Duration of the SC 485 (regional study)

• Bachelor degree (including Honours ): 2 + 1 year (for cities and major regional centres) / 2 years for regional centres and other regional areas)
• Masters by coursework: 2 + 1 year (for cities and major regional centres) / 2 years for regional centres and other regional areas)
• Masters by research: 3 + 1 year (for cities and major regional centres) / 2 years for regional centres and other regional areas)
• Doctoral degree: 4 + 1 year (for cities and major regional centres) / 2 years for regional centres and other regional areas)