Overview

The subclass 590 is a temporary visa and allows the parents, guardians or custodians of international students under the age of 18 years or if they have exceptional circumstances to live in Australia to provide care and to support them while they pursue higher education in Australia. The duration of stay of this visa holder is linked to the validity of the student visa of their ward.

Eligibility Criteria

A parent, guardian or custodian international student must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• be the student’s parent, custodian or an eligible relative*
• Must be 21 years or older
• Have enough financial resources to support yourself and the student during your stay in Australia
• Have Overseas Visitor Health Cover for the duration of your stay in Australia
• Be able to provide accommodation, welfare and other support to their child/ward who is the holder of an international student visa
• The Student Guardian visa holder has to provide care and support for:
  • a student visa holder who is under 18 years of age or
  • a student visa holder who is 18 years of age or older and needs care and support due to exceptional circumstances
• make satisfactory arrangements for the accommodation, support and welfare of any member of your family who is under the age of 18 years and not coming with you to Australia.  Satisfactory arrangements for your children aged 6 to 18 years not accompanying you to Australia means that either they will be living with another parent or a relative who is at least 21 years old in your absence
• Meet the health and character requirements
• Be a genuine temporary entrant and have no prior debt to the Australian government
• Sign the Australian Values Statement and have had a visa cancelled or a previous application refused

* For the purpose of this visa, an eligible relative is the student’s:

• biological parent or step-parent
• grandparent or step-grandparent
• sibling or stepsibling
• aunt, uncle, step-aunt or step-uncle
• niece, nephew or step-niece or step-nephew
• partner
• child or stepchild

Key Visa Entitlements

• Care for more than one student
• Applicants can apply for this visa online in Australia (onshore) or outside (offshore)
• Enroll in an English language or an other course for less than 20 hours per week for a duration of less than 3 months
• While this visa allows the holders to travel out of Australia as often as they like, they are not permitted to leave Australia without the student visa holder under your care
• • While this visa allows the holders to travel out of Australia as often as they like, they are not permitted to leave Australia without the student visa holder under your care

Visa Application Charges

Primary Applicant

AUD 630

Processing Timelines

Processing times for applications in this visa subclass can vary significantly depending on the risk assessment level of the applicants’ country of origin and how promptly the applicants can submit the requested documents, including translations, if required. The general processing times for the visa applications in this visa subclass are given below and it does not include the time needed to process the skills assessment and state-nomination applications.

• 75% of the applications are processed in approximately 6 weeks
• 90% of the applications are processed within 6 months