Frequently asked questions

A Subclass 485 is a temporary visa that lets a recent graduate of Australian study stay on to work, and it is used mainly as a bridge to a later skilled, employer-sponsored, or regional pathway. It looks simple but is really a validity-and-eligibility exercise: many of its errors cannot be fixed after lodgement, and its settings have been tightened in recent rounds, so it must be checked against current law, not taken on its easy reputation.

Stream follows what was studied

There are two streams, and the choice is not free - it follows the qualification completed: - Post-Higher Education Work stream [cl 485.231] - for a person who completed an eligible Australian degree (bachelor, masters, doctoral, or graduate diploma). It is degree-driven and does not turn on a nominated occupation or a skills assessment. - Post-Vocational Education Work stream [cl 485.221] - for a person who completed an eligible associate degree, diploma, or trade qualification closely related to a nominated skilled occupation [cl 485.222]. It requires the nominated occupation, a relevant occupation list, and a skills assessment.

Because study type, nominated occupation, skills assessment, age, English, and evidence all flow from the stream, the stream is settled first. The older labels - Graduate Work stream, Post-Study Work stream, and the Replacement stream - now describe only a previously-held visa [cl 485.211]; the Replacement stream is closed to new applications [Sch 1 1229].

The Australian study requirement is the central threshold for a Subclass 485, and for this visa it is set inside the stream clauses themselves [cl 485.221] [cl 485.231] - not borrowed from the general skilled-migration definition in reg 1.15F, which the points test still uses. The study must have been completed in the six months before the application, with all instruction in English, undertaken while the applicant was in Australia holding a visa that authorised study.

Two separate length tests, both mandatory

The completed study must satisfy two distinct measures, and a course can clear one while failing the other: - at least 16 calendar months of study [cl 485.221(b)] [cl 485.231(1B)(b)]; and - at least 2 academic years of study [cl 485.221(c)] [cl 485.231(1B)(c)], fixed at 92 weeks by legislative instrument LIN 19/085 (an academic year is 46 weeks).

Both must be met, so both are checked.

The eligible qualification is defined by the stream, and it turns on the precise 485 definitions in [cl 485.111], not everyday usage or what the provider called the award.

Post-Higher Education stream - a "degree"

A "degree" is a bachelor, masters, or doctoral degree, or a graduate diploma, awarded under the AQF by an Australian educational institution [cl 485.111] - so every degree relied on is an Australian award. The definition also fixes an entry level for each: a bachelor is entered from year 12; a masters from a bachelor degree (Australian or an equivalent award); a doctoral from an honours bachelor or a masters; and a graduate diploma from a preceding degree. A graduate certificate is not a degree and no longer supports a 485.

The graduate diploma conditions - in the definition itself

A graduate diploma counts only where two further conditions in the definition are met [cl 485.111]: the graduate-diploma course is (i) a related course of study to the preceding degree, and (ii) commenced in the same or the next academic year as the year the preceding degree was completed. Because the preceding degree must itself be a "degree", it must be Australian-awarded. So a standalone graduate diploma, one following an overseas degree, one in an unrelated field, or one commenced after the academic year immediately following the preceding degree's completion year does not qualify. These conditions took effect on 14 December 2024, and an application lodged before then on a graduate diploma is assessed under the earlier rules. Each degree must be of a kind specified by LIN 24/048 [cl 485.231(1)] [LIN 24/048]. The educational institution is specified separately by LIN 23/021, current compilation F2024C01284 as amended by LIN 24/086 [cl 485.231(2)] [LIN 23/021].

The masters-entry point - also in the definition

The entry level built into the definition is why a masters entered on a diploma, or on recognition of prior learning alone, can fail: a masters is a "degree" only where its entry level was a completed bachelor degree, Australian or equivalent [cl 485.111]. Provider admission on a lesser basis does not cure that.

Post-Vocational stream - associate degree, diploma, or trade qualification

This stream needs one or more associate degrees, diplomas, or trade qualifications [cl 485.221], each closely related to the nominated skilled occupation [cl 485.222]. "diploma" and "trade qualification" take their precise meaning from [cl 485.111] [reg 2.26AC(6)]; the trade definition in particular is narrow.

Not every completed Australian course satisfies the length tests, because how the weeks are counted turns on two governing ideas: the yardstick is the registered course duration LIN 19/085, not the calendar time taken, and only study done in Australia counts.

Registered duration, not calendar time

The 92 weeks is the registered duration of the CRICOS course, checked on CRICOS at the course level - a confirmation of enrolment cannot turn a short registered course into a two-academic-year course, so a diploma registered at 104 weeks satisfies it while one registered at 78 does not. Pace is neutral to the 92-week measure: finishing early does not hurt it (a 92-week course completed in 78 weeks still counts as 92), and taking longer never helps (studying part-time, carrying fewer subjects, or failing and repeating adds calendar time but no counted study weeks). The separate 16-calendar-month requirement, by contrast, does turn on real time: it is measured on the actual elapsed time from when the study started to when it was completed, so a course finished in well under 16 calendar months can fail that limb even where the 92 registered weeks are met.

Credit and advanced standing

The legislation uses registered course duration; how credit and advanced standing alter the duration counted in an individual case is a Departmental assessment question informed by the provider's records, including the CoE and how the credited study is recorded. Credit may reduce the counted duration, while earlier qualifying Australian study may itself be aggregated where the stream permits it. Credit for overseas study does not become Australian study merely because it is recognised by the provider. The file should therefore establish both the registered duration and the treatment of each credit rather than assume that only a whole-semester reduction matters. [LIN 19/085]

Where the study was done

Ordinarily, the study must have been undertaken while the applicant was physically in Australia [cl 485.221] [cl 485.231], so offshore study does not count. A continuing statutory COVID concession applies to online study undertaken outside Australia during the defined concession period from 1 February 2020 to 25 November 2023; current Home Affairs guidance confirms that this study can continue to count toward the Temporary Graduate study requirement. [F2020L01181] [LIN 23/063] Outside that concession, online study from overseas and study at an overseas campus do not count. Short overseas travel during a break does not itself reduce the qualifying study period.

Split across courses or providers

More than one completed course can be added together to reach the totals, counting overlapping time once - but only across qualifications the stream actually counts: degrees for the Post-Higher Education stream, and associate degrees, diplomas or trade qualifications (each closely related to the occupation) for the Post-Vocational stream. So aggregation helps within a stream - two eligible vocational qualifications, for instance - but a qualification the stream does not count cannot be aggregated: an ordinary diploma cannot top up a degree in the Post-Higher Education stream, and an unrelated certificate helps neither. Study that was instead credited into a completed course only shortens that course, and a de-registered course drops out unless its study had already been credited into an award the applicant completed.

The completion date starts the six-month clock for lodging a 485 [cl 485.221] [cl 485.231], and it is a defined legal point rather than a ceremony - fixing it wrongly can put the application outside that window.

What "completed" means

A qualification is completed when the applicant has met all the academic requirements for its award [cl 485.111]. The definition is explicit that formal conferral is not needed, so completion comes before the award is conferred. Institutional notification or a completion letter evidences the completion date; it does not replace the statutory event of meeting all academic requirements. It is not the last exam, the day an assessment was submitted, the graduation or conferral date, the certificate date, or the scheduled course end date. Because moderation can push completion past the last assessment, it should be evidenced by a completion letter or a transcript statement. For a research degree, the date is usually when the institution confirms all requirements are met after any examiner-required changes are accepted, not the later certificate.

Two timing traps

The six-month deadline is easy to miss. A 485 must be lodged within six months of completing the course [cl 485.221] [cl 485.231], and the applicant must also hold, or have recently held, an eligible student visa. The trap is to treat the student visa's expiry as the deadline: where the course finished well before the visa runs out, waiting until the visa is nearly up can miss the six-month completion window even though the visa is still valid. And because the settings change, someone who completed before a change but lodges after it may be assessed under the new rules - completion and lodgement can fall under different regimes.

An invalid application is worse than a refusal. It counts as never made, so no one has to decide it and there is no right of review - a refusal can at least be appealed, an invalid application cannot. That is why the Schedule 1 validity rules are checked first, before anything about whether the visa should be granted.

What a valid 485 needs at lodgement

The main lodgement rules for a 485 are [Sch 1 1229]: - Where the applicant is. A primary applicant in either currently open stream must be in Australia when applying, but not in immigration clearance. An eligible subsequent entrant may apply in or outside Australia. The former offshore primary-applicant limb is not a current pathway: the other offshore-applicable group was the Replacement stream, which closed to applications from 1 July 2024 [Sch 1 item 1229(3)(f)–(g), (5)(a)]. - The right visa history. The applicant must hold an eligible student visa; hold a Bridging A or Bridging B granted on a valid visa application, having held an eligible student visa in the prior six months; or hold a substantive visa and have held an eligible student visa in the prior six months. This summary is non-exhaustive: it omits the live ART-reversal and subsequent-485 routes [Sch 1 item 1229(4)(a)]. A Post-Higher Education applicant must hold or have held a Student (Class TU) visa. - One stream, and an occupation for the vocational stream. The application picks a single stream, and a Post-Vocational applicant must also nominate a skilled occupation. - Not too many past 485s. The applicant must not already have held four Subclass 485 visas. - The right form and the fee.

If any of these is wrong, there is no application to decide. And the stream, the nominated occupation, and who the applicant is are locked in by the application - they cannot be changed later by an email or an explanation, so a mistake usually means starting again with a fresh application, if there is still time.

The police check and the skills assessment are different. They are visa criteria, not validity rules, so getting them wrong leads to a refusal - which can be reviewed - not to an invalid application.

Two eligibility limits catch applicants who were fine mid-study but no longer fit by the time they apply: an age ceiling, and a bar on having held a 485 before.

Age

The applicant must be under the age limit when they apply [Sch 1 1229]. It is generally 35 or younger. A higher limit of under 50 applies to a holder of a Hong Kong or British National (Overseas) passport, and to someone who completed a research masters or a doctoral degree. The limit bites at the time of application, so a student who was well inside it during their course can age out before lodging - the age is checked on the day they apply, not when they finished studying.

Prior 485 history

The prior-485 limits work on two levels: a bar on getting a further primary 485, and hard ceilings on how many you may ever hold.

The bar counts only visas held as a primary applicant [cl 485.211], and it has two separate limbs, each a common criterion every primary applicant must satisfy whatever stream is now nominated, so a prior primary 485 on one side is not escaped by switching to the other: - Vocational side (Graduate Work or Post-Vocational Education Work): a former primary holder here cannot be granted any further primary 485, with no exception. - Higher-education side (Post-Study Work or Post-Higher Education Work): a former primary holder here cannot be granted any further primary 485, unless the applicant nominates the Post-Higher Education stream and meets the regional second-visa requirements - the only route to a further one.

The ceilings, by contrast, count every 485 held - primary or secondary [cl 485.211]: - at most three Post-Study Work visas; - at most two Post-Higher Education visas; - and no more than four Subclass 485 visas in total, across all streams and both roles [Sch 1 1229].

Two consequences follow. First, hitting a ceiling closes the whole primary-485 route, not just one stream: clause 485.211 is a common criterion that every primary applicant must meet whatever stream is nominated, so someone who has held two Post-Higher Education visas (or three Post-Study Work visas) cannot satisfy it for any further primary 485 - a Post-Vocational application fails on the same clause. Second, a former secondary holder is not caught by the primary bar, so they can apply as a primary applicant if they meet the primary criteria in their own right - but the secondary visa they held still counts toward the ceilings.

Finally, study completed while holding a 485 rather than a student visa usually cannot ground a fresh 485, but the obstacle is the visa history, not the course itself: a valid 485 needs an eligible student visa held or recently held [Sch 1 1229], so a degree done entirely on a 485 with no qualifying student visa fails that lodgement requirement, and for a former primary holder a further primary 485 is in any case barred [cl 485.211]. The same study may still count toward skilled-migration points, which use a different study definition and do not need that student-visa history.

A Subclass 485 carries its own English requirement [cl 485.212], met in one of two ways - an accepted test at the specified score, or a passport of a specified type. The test and score are set by legislative instrument, not by the "competent English" definition the skilled-migration visas use. The current instrument is LIN 25/089, in force from 7 August 2025.

The current scores

For a standard applicant (LIN 25/089, from 7 August 2025):

| Test | Overall | Each component | |---|---|---| | IELTS (Academic / General) | 6.5 | 5.5 | | PTE Academic | 55 | L40 R42 W41 S39 | | TOEFL iBT | 81 | L12 R12 W14 S17 | | CELPIP General | 8 | 6 | | LANGUAGECERT Academic | 67 | L49 R54 W56 S62 | | MET | 58 | L53 R51 W51 S43 | | OET | 1310 | L260 R280 W260 S310 |

Holders of a Hong Kong or British National (Overseas) passport meet a lower set (IELTS 6 overall, 5 in each component, and the equivalents) and were not affected by the 2024 score increase.

Timing and mechanics

Two recent tightenings matter, and they came in two steps. The score raise, and the cut of the validity window from three years to one year, came in 2024 (LIN 24/021); LIN 25/089 then replaced the accepted-test panel from 7 August 2025, adding CELPIP General, LANGUAGECERT Academic and MET, with some scores falling. C1 Advanced is not an accepted test for a test taken on or after that commencement date. The test must have been taken within the twelve months before the application. For a test taken on or after 7 August 2025 the instrument specifies only that one-year window; the older explicit single-sitting rule (with its OET exception) continues to govern tests taken before that date. The accepted-test list is read strictly and changes over time, so a test should be confirmed against the current instrument.

By passport

A valid passport satisfies the requirement without a test only if it was issued by Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom or the United States to a citizen of that country [cl 485.212] [LIN 25/089 s 9]. Hong Kong and British National (Overseas) passport holders are governed by the reduced-score provisions described above, not by the no-test passport exemption merely because their document was issued through another country's passport system.

Who it does not apply to

The test-or-passport requirement does not apply to an applicant meeting the regional second-visa criteria, or one who nominated the Replacement stream [cl 485.212].

These three are visa criteria, not validity rules, so getting one wrong leads to a refusal, not an invalid application. The points to watch on a 485: - Police check - the primary applicant must have applied for an AFP national check within the twelve months before applying, with no age qualifier; each other included applicant must do so if they are at least 16, with evidence at lodgement [cl 485.213]. A State or Territory police check does not satisfy it. - Health insurance - adequate cover is required at lodgement and must be maintained under condition 8501 [cl 485.215] [cl 485.611]; overseas student cover usually ends with the student visa, so the holder must move to suitable cover in time, and every family member must be covered. - Health - each family-unit member included as an applicant must satisfy PIC 4005, for which this subclass provides no waiver [cl 485.216(3)]. The clause imposes the criterion on each included applicant; it should not be restated as a separate universal statutory "one fails, all fail" rule.

The Post-Vocational stream is occupation-driven. Unlike the higher-education stream, it stands on a nominated skilled occupation, a skills assessment for that occupation, and a real connection between the study and the occupation - and these are tested at three different stages, which is where cases fall over.

The skills assessment is tested three times over

The same skills assessment surfaces as three separate requirements: - Nominating the occupation is a validity requirement [Sch 1 1229] - get it wrong and the application is invalid, not just refused. - Having applied for a skills assessment is a criterion at the time of application [cl 485.223] - miss it and the application is refused. - Holding a suitable assessment is a criterion at the time of decision [cl 485.224], and it must still be current: within three years, or a shorter period if the assessing authority sets one.

The assessing authority's requirements must be checked for the nominated occupation. Some graduate pathways may assess qualifications without requiring employment experience, while other occupations or authorities impose occupation-specific training, experience or provisional-assessment requirements; the 485 criteria do not create a universal qualifications-only rule.

The qualification must fit the occupation

Each qualification used for cl 485.221 must result from a registered course [cl 485.221(a)]. It must also be closely related to the nominated occupation [cl 485.222]. The clause states the test in those terms and no more, so how close the relationship is falls to be assessed on the facts of the qualification and the occupation. If the skills assessment relied on an Australian qualification obtained while the applicant held a student visa, that qualification must also result from studying a registered course [cl 485.224(2)].

"Trade qualification" is narrow

Reaching a given AQF level is not enough to make a qualification a trade qualification. The definition is one of three things [cl 485.111] [reg 2.26AC(6)]: - an Australian trade qualification from an indentured apprenticeship or a training contract required by industrial-training law or an award; - an AQF Certificate III or higher for a skilled occupation in ASCO Major Group IV; or - an AQF Certificate III or higher for a skilled occupation in ANZSCO Major Group 3.

ASCO and ANZSCO are two different occupation-classification systems - ASCO the older one, ANZSCO the current system that replaced it - so the second and third routes point to Major Groups in two different frameworks (ASCO's Major Group IV, ANZSCO's Major Group 3) and are not interchangeable; each must be read against its own classification.

So a certificate in an area like business or accounting does not become a trade qualification just because of its level. The same narrowness governs aggregation: length can be built across several qualifications only where each is itself a relevant one. A cookery applicant can combine a Certificate III, a Certificate IV, and a diploma because chef is a trade and each piece qualifies; an enrolled-nurse applicant cannot top up a short nursing diploma with an unrelated certificate, because enrolled nurse is not a trade and only the diploma counts.

A person normally gets only one Subclass 485 as a primary applicant. The regional second visa is the single exception: it lets a graduate who earned an earlier 485 through regional study, and has stayed in the region, obtain a further 485 in the Post-Higher Education Work stream [cl 485.211]. It exists to keep skilled graduates in regional Australia, so its whole architecture rewards staying put.

Who qualifies

The applicant must have held an earlier 485 - a Post-Study Work or Post-Higher Education Work visa - granted on the basis of study in a regional part of Australia. The four routes split by regional category: clauses 485.232 and 485.234 use the narrower regional centre or other regional area, while clauses 485.233 and 485.235 use the wider designated regional area (both categories are specified by instrument), and for clauses 485.232 and 485.233 the first visa must still be held when the second application is made. Within the applicable category, the applicant must show [cl 485.232]-[cl 485.235]: - they lived only in an area of that category while doing that study; - they have lived only in such an area for at least two years immediately before this application; - any work or study in that two-year period was only in such an area; and - they still live, work, and study only there at the time of decision, and declare they intend to continue.

The residence inquiry concerns where the applicant lived, and current Home Affairs guidance distinguishes living elsewhere from a holiday or short work trip, which does not by itself change the applicant's usual residence. Work and study remain subject to their separate geographic limbs. Longer absences, maintaining a home elsewhere, or facts showing that the applicant actually lived outside the applicable regional category can still defeat the criterion, so the purpose, duration and residential facts of any absence must be examined.

The regional condition, and what it waives

A visa granted on this basis must carry condition 8610 [cl 485.613], which requires the holder to live, work, and study only in an area of the regional category the visa was granted on - a regional centre or other regional area for the 485.232/485.234 cohort, a designated regional area for the 485.233/485.235 cohort [sch 8 cl 8610]. That condition - not any discretionary decision by the case officer - is the source of the "limited work entitlements" note that appears on the visa record. English and AFP are expressly disapplied, and the Australian study requirement is switched off for this cohort. Skills assessment does not apply because the regional second visa is a Post-Higher Education stream visa, where skills assessment does not apply, not because it is waived [cl 485.212(2)(b)] [cl 485.213(2)] [cl 485.231(1A)] [cl 485.223] [cl 485.224].

Its limits

The regional route is capped. A person may be granted at most one regional-extension 485 [Sch 1 item 1229(4)(aa)(ii)], and it sits within the overall ceilings on Subclass 485 visas - no more than two Post-Higher Education Work visas [cl 485.211(d)(ii)], and no more than four Subclass 485 visas of any kind across a lifetime [Sch 1 item 1229(4)(aa)(i)]. What it offers is a further period of lawful stay and work in regional Australia, which can support a genuine regional permanent-residence pathway for someone who continues to live and work there.

Some visas, including many student visas, carry a "no further stay" condition - either 8503 or 8534. While the holder remains in Australia, 8503 blocks the grant of any further substantive visa except a protection visa unless it is waived first [sch 8 cl 8503]. Condition 8534 blocks the same, but writes its own exceptions into the condition: a protection visa, a Subclass 485 and a Subclass 590 are not barred, so an 8534 holder can be granted a 485 with no waiver at all [sch 8 cl 8534]. The two look alike but their exceptions and waiver terms differ, and the difference is easy to miss.

8503 - genuine skilled-visa intention establishes a prescribed circumstance

Condition 8503 has an additional prescribed circumstance where the holder genuinely intends to apply for a General Skilled Migration visa (which includes the Subclass 189), or for a Subclass 186, 187, 188, 191, 482, or 494 [reg 2.05(4AA)]. Genuine intention alone establishes that prescribed circumstance, but does not itself secure a waiver: the Minister retains discretion to make a written waiver decision under s 41(2A) [s 41(2A)].

8534 - the course must also be finished

Condition 8534 is stricter. Its waiver needs two things together: the holder must have finished the course the visa was granted for, and must genuinely intend to apply for one of those same skilled visas [reg 2.05(5A)]. Intention alone will not do - if the course is not yet complete, the waiver is simply unavailable, however genuine the plan.

A waiver then limits what can be lodged

Once either condition is waived on these grounds, the next substantive application is valid only if it is for one of the listed skilled visas - General Skilled Migration, or a Subclass 186, 187, 188, 191, 482, or 494 [reg 2.07AG]. Anything outside that list cannot be validly lodged. And because General Skilled Migration includes the Subclass 485, the 485 is one of the visas an 8503 waiver reopens - under 8534 no waiver is needed for a 485, since the condition itself excepts it.