You’re an international student who recently graduated with a degree from an Australian institution? You’re feeling ready and excited to start your career in the Australian accounting industry, and potentially stay forever? But you’re also wondering what type of visa is right for you?

Being an accounting graduate is a great start, as you are now considered a skilled migrant! There are currently four professions listed on the Skilled Occupations List by Australia’s Department of Immigration that make you eligible for skilled migration visas – specifically accountant (general), external auditor, management accountant and taxation accountant. This means that you actually have a range of visas to choose from, depending on a number of factors.

In this article, we will share five compelling reasons the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485 – Post-Study Work stream) could be the right visa for you, if you answered ‘yes’ to the questions above.

Depending on your degree, you get between 2-4 initial years’ visa with working rights.

• Bachelor degree (including honours): 2 years
• Masters by coursework: 2 years
• Masters by research: 3 years
• Doctoral degree: 4 years

You may choose to live anywhere you want in Australia on the ‘485’ visa, be that in metropolitan or regional areas. If you studied and graduated from a campus in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, there are no visa-related incentives to move away from the city. You are free to choose your favourite place to live for the next few years to come!

For the duration of the visa, you are also eligible to study other courses to improve your knowledge and skill sets for better chances of employment or career advancement.

You can request to have your immediate family members (your wife, husband and children) included on your visa so they can stay with you for the duration of your granted visa. Your spouse is also eligible to work in Australia. Your family members can either be included as part of a combined application, or make a subsequent application either onshore (in Australia) or offshore (in your home country).

If you have studied and graduated from a campus in a regional area, you are, since November 2019, eligible to apply for an extension of a one or two years’ visa (this is referred to as a second ‘485’ visa) provided that you keep living in any of Australia’s regional areas. This was recently increased to include basically all of Australia, except Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. One extra year will be available to graduates who have lived in Regional Australia – Category 2, which is comprised of Perth, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Canberra, Newcastle/Lake Macquarie, Wollongong/Illawarra, Geelong and Hobart. Two extra years will be available to graduates who have lived in any other regional areas.

If you hope to make Australia the country you ‘live happily ever after’ in, the ‘485’ visa could be the perfect bridging solution before you find your key to permanent residency. You will be able to use this time to gain professional experience, to make connections and prepare yourself to apply for one of the following visa streams for your chance to stay in Australia indefinitely:

• Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189)
• Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190)
• Employer Nominated Scheme (ENS) visa (subclass 186)
• Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494)
• Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491)

For further information about the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) Post-Study Work stream, click here.

There are certainly other visa options for recent accounting graduates as well, but the ‘485 Post-Study Work stream’ visa is one of the more straightforward ones. It is comparatively inexpensive (AUD $1,650), take 2-4 months to process, doesn’t require any work experience or a skills assessment nor does it work on a points-basis, like many other visas do. What you will need, apart from your degree, is an Australian Federal Police clearance, a valid health insurance and a passing score in an English test (usually IELTS).

In conclusion, the Post-study Work stream of visa 485 is a good way to extend your stay in the country, but it can also be a great opportunity to improve your chances of making Australia your permanent home!

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