This visa is for overseas students unable to meet the pass mark on the points test for the Skilled – Independent (Residence) visa. This visa allows the applicant to live in Australia for 18 months to build on their skills, work experience and English language skills. Any secondary applicant/s included in the visa can remain in Australia for up to 18 months with no restrictions on work or study in any part of Australia.

A holder of this visa can apply for permanent residence at any time when he / she is able to meet the pass mark on the General Skilled Migration points test.

The applicant must meet the following requirements:

• Be under 45 years of age
• Meet the English language threshold
• Completed a two year study for an eligible qualification in the six months prior to lodging the application for this visa.
• Have skills and qualifications to nominate a 50 point or 60 point occupation listed on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) and the qualification/s  must be closely related to the nominated skilled occupation
• Applied for a skills assessment from the relevant assessing authority for the applicant's nominated occupation.
• All applicants must be in Australia and hold eligible visas.
• All persons included in the application must have booked health examinations at Health Services Australia for this application

All persons included in the application who are aged 16 years or over have in the last 12 months applied to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for a check of criminal records