Australia retains minimum age requirement for post-study work visas for research students

Australia's Department of Home Affairs has announced that it will keep the minimum age requirement of 50 for post-study work visas for research students. This decision follows the publication of changes to the Temporary Graduate Visa Program, set to take effect on July 1, 2024.

Initially, the Department planned to lower the minimum age limit to 35 for all Temporary Graduate 485 visa streams, except for Hong Kong and British National Overseas passport holders. However, after considering feedback on the potential impact of this change on postgraduate research students, the Department decided to maintain the higher age limit for research students in the Post-Higher Education Work Stream, previously known as the Post-Study Work Stream.

Under the new guidelines, Master's (research) and doctoral degree (PhD) graduates, as well as Hong Kong and British National Overseas passport holders under 50, will still be eligible for the visa. This decision aims to balance the government's goal of attracting international talent with concerns regarding the age requirement for research students.

The initial migration strategy, published in December, suggested that lowering the age limit would support “early career professionals.” However, critics argued that the proposed cut-off would exclude most doctoral graduates. The Group of Eight highlighted that in 2022, 40% of international PhD students in Australia were aged 30 or older, which would make many ineligible for a visa by the time they completed their PhD under the proposed age limit.

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The 35-year-old age limit will still apply to graduates of taught master's, bachelor's, associate degree, and vocational programs, effective from July 1, 2024.

Confirmed post-study work rights by the government include:

• 2 years for Bachelor Degree (no change)
• 2 years for Master's by coursework (reduced from 3 years)
• 3 years for Master's by research (no change)
• 3 years for PhD (reduced from 4 years)

Eligibility for a second temporary graduate visa remains unchanged, but the two-year extension introduced in 2022 will end.

Other changes include renaming various streams. The post-study and second post-study work streams will become the post-higher and second post-higher education work streams, respectively, and the graduate work stream will be renamed the post-vocational education work stream.