BEFORE AND AFTER ARRIVAL IN AUSTRALIA - INTERNATIONAL STUDENT

Acknowledge Education (AE) is an accredited and approved education provider with a CRICOS registration, and international students seeking enrolment at AE and applying for a student visa can verify this by visiting the website.

It is important that students applying to study in Australia on a student visa are aware of the GTE requirements set by the Department of Home Affairs. For more information, visit the Department’s website here.

For information on financial requirements, please view the relevant legislation here.

Students applying for a student visa must have adequate health insurance cover while in Australia and must not arrive in Australia before their health insurance starts. If you are in Australia and do not have adequate health insurance, you are in breach of your student visa conditions. You need to purchase Overseas Students Health Cover (OSHC) from insurance providers, or, as an alternative, Acknowledge Education can arrange to obtain the required health cover for you. Students may opt for this service at no additional cost, apart from paying for the actual insurance cover that is arranged from a third party insurance company.

Once you have been granted a visa and arrived safely in Australia, please ensure you check that your visa details and conditions are all correct (including your passport details, date of birth and class of visa) by visiting the VEVO website.

Whether you are an international student or a domestic student who is undertaking nationally accredited training (including a vocational course such as a Certificate or Diploma course), you will need a USI number. After you are granted a student visa, please register and ensure you have a number. For more information and how to register please visit:

https://www.usi.gov.au/about
https://www.usi.gov.au/students/create-your-usi

Acknowledge Education wants its international students to undertake their course of study in Australia in a safe environment. The Australian Government has regulations in place to ensure students enjoy quality education within a fair legal and consumer protection framework. The ESOS Act 2000 gives international students the policies, legislation and standards they should be aware of while a student at an education provider. For more information, please visit the ESOS website.

Students must attend orientation either in person or online. Usually, orientation is many days prior to the commencement of classes. It is important that students read the information on their Offer Letter and check our ‘important dates‘ page for details.

When you arrive at any Australian airport, you must present your passport, passenger card (usually given to you on the flight before landing) and student visa evidence to Australian Immigration authorities. When you have completed the entry procedure, you will then move to baggage claim to retrieve your checked bags (luggage).

Australia has strict quarantine laws and significant on-the-spot fines for violations. Every piece of luggage could be screened, and it is mandatory to declare certain goods that you may be carrying. If you fail to declare or dispose of any restricted items, or make a false declaration, in addition to on-the-spot fines, you could be prosecuted and fined more than AU$60,000 and risk 10 years in prison. All international mail is also screened. For more information about goods that are not allowed, please visit this website.

Some products may require treatment to make them safe. Items that are restricted because of the risk of pests and disease will be seized and destroyed by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS). The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) could use quarantine detector dogs to check through baggage for food, plant material or animal products.

You should prepare a folder with your official documents to carry with you to Australia, including:

• Valid passport with student visa copy

• Your offer letter from Acknowledge Education

• Confirmation of Enrolment (eCOE) issued by Acknowledge Education

• OSHC (Overseas Student Health Cover) policy

• Receipts for payments (e.g.m tuition fees, OSHC, bank statements etc.)

• Original or certified copies of your academic transcripts and qualifications

• Other personal identification documents, e.g., birth certificate, ID card, driver’s licence

• Medical records and/or prescriptions

If you are travelling with your family you will need to include their documents as well. Keep all documents in your carry-on luggage. In case you lose the originals, make copies that can be left behind with family and sent to you.

Most student visas allow you to bring your family members to Australia as your dependants. Dependant family members include your spouse, your children, or your spouse’s dependent children. Before bringing your spouse or children to Australia, you must prove that you can support them financially. The cost of supporting a family in Australia is very high. You may have to consider and discuss many issues with your family. For more information regarding documentary evidence of financial capacity, please visit the Department of Home Affairs website.

Rather than bringing your family with you to Australia, some students may prefer to arrive first, settle into studies, find appropriate accommodation, adjust to living in Australia and then arrange for their family to join them.

Before making a decision to bring your family to Australia it is important to consider the following matters:

• the cost of OSHC cover can be very high for couples and families as compared to a single student

• the cost of airfares for your family to and from Australia

• possible higher rent for a larger home

• limited employment opportunities for your spouse

• extra costs for food, clothing and other necessities

• the effect on you and your studies if your family is not happy in Australia

• whether your children will adjust to school in Australia

• waiting lists for child-care;

Finding suitable childcare in Australia requires patience and planning. Waiting lists for places in most childcare centres are long.

Many schools offer before and after school care programs (usually 7:30–8:45am and 3:30–6:00pm). Children who need these programs must be registered with the school.

If you would like to bring your children to Australia with you, you must be aware of the following schooling issues:

• It is an immigration policy that school-age dependants of international students undertake formal schooling while they are in Australia.

• Children who have their fifth birthday on or before 31 July of that calendar year are eligible to start school that year.

• You will need to provisionally enrol your child in a school before you leave your home country, and you will normally have to pay the school fees one semester in advance. The school will issue an electronic Confirmation of Enrolment Form (eCOE) stating the program and its duration, so that you can obtain the appropriate visa for your child.

For more information on schools enrolling international students in Melbourne, visit:
https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/student-500
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/Pages/default.aspx

• You will be responsible for school fees and other costs including school uniforms, books, excursions, and stationery.

• When choosing the most appropriate school for your child, it is best to ask questions about the school’s curriculum, size, extra-curricular activities and the size of individual classes.

• You should also take into consideration the distance from the school to your education institution, the suburb in which you intend to live and the method of transport you plan to use.

Before you leave home, you should provide your family and friends, and Acknowledge Education, with details of your flights to Australia and where you will be staying when you arrive. (Do not change these details without informing them.) Once you have arrived in Australia, you should then let your family and friends know that you have arrived safely. It is important to ALWAYS let someone know where you are and how to contact you by phone, by email or by post. It is a mandatory requirement of your visa grant to inform Acknowledge Education of any change to your contact details, which includes your phone number and address of your accommodation.

The cost of living in Australia will vary depending on your choice of accommodation and suburb. More information is available on the Study in Australia website.

You will need to make sure you have access to sufficient funds to support you when you first arrive. It is recommended that you have approximately AU$1,500 to $2,000 available for the first month to pay for temporary accommodation and transport. You could bring this money in the form of cash or an international credit card. Please do not make deals with or hand over cash or credit cards to strangers, even if they claim to be from the college.

Only Australian currency can be used in Australia. If you have not brought Australian dollars with you, then you must convert your money into Australian Dollars. There are Currency Exchange desks available at airports.

When you are attempting to transfer funds while you are overseas, you may do so either by electronic telegraph or telegraphic transfer. Such transfers take approximately 48 hours to be credited into the receiving bank account. Bank charges may apply. While in Australia, it is very simple to make electronic transfers by downloading the app for your bank or using Internet banking.

Automatic teller machines are located everywhere (including at airports) and you can immediately withdraw cash from your overseas bank account at ATMs displaying the Cirrus Logo (if your ATM card has international access). Check this with your financial institution before leaving home. An international transaction fee may apply.

All major international credit cards (VISA/Mastercard/AMEX) are accepted in Australia, but you must remember that repayments on many of these cards can only be made in the country where they were issued. Do not rely on being able to get a credit card once you arrive in Australia, because this is very difficult due to credit and identification laws.

Please refer to the limits set by the Department of Home Affairs on cash and dutiable goods. Please see the Incoming Passenger card.

Most can also be purchased in Australia.

• Alarm clock

• Bath towels, bed sheets, pillow cases

• Dictionary (bilingual)

• Small sewing kit

• CDs or music player

• Sporting equipment

• Toiletries

• Umbrella

• Scientific or graphics calculator

• Camera

• Micro recorder for lectures

• Spare spectacles or contact lenses

• Your optical prescription

• Photos of friends and family

• Swimming costume

• Small gifts from home

• Australian power adapter

Bringing a PC, laptop or mobile phone into Australia may be slightly complicated. Please ensure that the voltage and power adapter or plug is as per Australian standards and requirements. It is always advisable to purchase your laptop within Australia as this allows warranty and repairs within the warranty period.