Every day, hundreds of Filipinos apply for an Australian visa for work, study, travel, and migration. Unfortunately, many of them are not granted their desired visas due to insufficient documents or requirements.
First of all, if you are an international student, you are required to demonstrate and/or declare that you have genuine access to sufficient funds to be granted a Student Visa. Specifically, you must demonstrate that you have maintained the required funds from an acceptable financial institution and that the money has been held for at least three months immediately before the date of application. You must also be able to show access to the funds in Australia.
If another person is funding your accommodation, support and general welfare for the duration of your stay in Australia, the money deposit must be held by the individual who is supporting you for at least three months immediately before the date of application.
An annual income can be used to demonstrate that you meet the requirement. The annual income option requires student’s spouse or parents to provide evidence of personal annual income of at least AUD 60,000. For students accompanied by family members, the amount is AUD 70,000.
The personal income of your spouse who is not travelling with you or parents must be declared. If both of your parents are working, their combined income can be considered for this requirement. In all cases, the evidence of annual income must be in the form of official government documentation, such as a tax assessment.
In case your funds come from a loan, these funds must be obtained from acceptable financial institutions.
Financial support for a Student Visa includes travel, tuition, and living expenses. For travel expenses, you and your family members are required to cover one return airfare to Australia per person. For tuition expenses, you as the applicant must have the required course fees while your family members who are of school age (5-18 years) require AUD 8,000 per year for each child. For living expenses, you need AUD 19,830 per year; your partner, AUD 6,940 per year; your child, AUD 2,970 per year.
— First published in The Philippine Times, Nov 2017 Edition
