Compliance news for students

All continuing students are required to re-enrol for 2016.The last day to re-enrol for 2016 in a timely manner closes on Monday 30 November 2015.If you fail to re-enrol by the due date, you may have to pay a late fee of $220 or you may lose your place at Deakin. This may result in cancellation of your CoE and have consequences for your student visa.

Re-enrol NOW to make sure you don't have any problems.

Please refer to the re-enrolment website if you are not sure if you are supposed to re-enrol or not.

If you are unsure which units to re-enrol into, please contact a Faculty Course Adviser for assistance.

To make sure that you get the best advice in the quickest possible time, it's important that you see the right people for advice.

You should see an International Compliance Officer for help with any of the following:

If you do not complete your course before your current student visa expires, it is very important that you apply for a new visa BEFORE it expires.

Many students are under the mistaken impression that they still have a 28 day "grace period" after their student visa expires. This is NOT the case. If your student visa has expired for less than 28 days, DIBP may still consider granting you another student visa, but they may not. If your student visa has expired for more than 28 days, DIBP will not grant you a new visa and you will be required to leave Australia. You may also be banned from returning to Australia for 3 years.

Please be aware of your visa expiry date and take the necessary action before it expires.

Information about how to apply for a new student visa can be found on visa renewal page.

You cannot apply for a new CoE and student visa if you are not enrolled. If you have completed your course and you want to stay in Australia to attend your graduation ceremony, you will not be able to apply for an "extension" of your student visa. You may need to consider a tourist visa or some other substantive visa. We recommend that you speak to DIBP directly about your visa options in these circumstances.

Staying in Australia without a valid visa is an offence and may result in serious consequences, including removal from Australia and/or detention.

Don't risk it! Your visa is your responsibility.

International students are required to complete their course within the duration specified on their CoE under Standard 9 of the National Code. This means that if you have a CoE that is valid for 3 years, you should complete your course within 3 years.If you have a CoE that is valid for 2 years, you should complete your course within 2 years.

To meet this requirement, you should either be enrolled in a full time load (4 units or 4 credit points) in each compulsory study period (T1 and T2) or, if you choose to under-enrol in T1 and T2, you MUST make up the difference in T3 of the same year.

For example, if you enrol in 3 units or 3 credit points in T1 and 3 units or 3 credit points in T2, you must enrol in 2 units or 2 credit points in T3 to complete your course within the duration specified on your CoE.

The only exceptions to this requirement are:

1. You have failed units.
2. You have been put on an intervention plan by your Faculty.
3. You have compelling/compassionate grounds for under-enrolling (e.g. you have a medically documented condition that prevents you enrolling full time and you are registered with the Disability Resource Centre - DRC).
4. You are unable to do a full time load due to non-availability of core or compulsory units. (In this case, your Faculty will give approval for under-enrolment).
5. Your Faculty has approved an under-load for other specific reasons.
6. You have been granted an approved intermission, in which case, your CoE will be adjusted accordingly.

Students who deliberately under-enrol without Faculty approval may not be eligible for a new CoE and may be required to complete the remainder of their course offshore via online learning.

All students should also be aware of the 25% online study rule. International students can not do more than 25% of their total course online. Students should also ensure that they are enrolled in at least 1 campus based (face-to-face) unit in each compulsory study period.

We strongly recommend that you seek the advice of a Faculty Course Adviser BEFORE making any enrolment decisions that may impact on your course duration.

The table below will give you and idea of how many credit points you should complete each year.

Students wishing to apply for a CoE extension should now do so by completing and submitting the new online "Endorsement for a Change of Course Duration and CoE Form" (see link below).

This new form will allow students more flexibility and will not require them to have to lodge the application in person on campus.

Note: Students wishing to apply for a new CoE should do so at least 10 working days before they need to use the new CoE. The application for a new CoE will take up to 10 working days to process and Deakin will not be able to issue a new CoE at the last minute.

The instructions on how to apply for a CoE guide you through the process of applying for a new CoE.

In some cases, your Faculty may wish to see you to discuss your application for a new CoE with them. If this is the case, your Faculty will contact you and ask you to come in for an interview. It is important that you include your mobile phone number on the application so that your Faculty can contact you quickly if required. If you do not hear from your Faculty within 5 working days, it means that they do not need to see you and your CoE will be processed and emailed to you.

Your new CoE will be emailed to you within 10 business days of the date of your application being submitted.

If your enrolment is cancelled for non-payment of fees, access to all Deakin systems stops immediately. This means that you won't have access to StudentConnect or CloudDeakin. If you have assignments due at the time, you will not be able to submit them and we will not be able to reactivate your enrolment because you cease to be a student at Deakin until your remaining fees plus a $200 reinstatement fee is paid. Many students ask for an extension of time to pay their fees at this stage. Unfortunately, once your enrolment has been cancelled, it is too late to ask for an extension of time to pay. The only way for your enrolment to be reinstated is for you to pay your fees immediately.

Deakin is required to report on your CoE within 5 working days of the date of your cancellation. Cancellation for non-payment of fees will always happen on a Tuesday. If a student has not paid their fees by the following Monday, the CoE will be cancelled and reported on. This may result in problems with your student visa.

We understand that there are many situations that may arise that may prevent you paying your fees on time. Deakin will try to help you as much as possible, however,it is very important that you contact the fees office BEFORE the due date of your fees if you are having financial difficulty. Don't leave it until your enrolment is cancelled. All students who have not paid their fees by the due date will receive a reminder email from the fees office. If the student fails to pay their fees by the final due date, they will be sent a letter to their home address advising them that their enrolment will be cancelled 20 working days after the date of the letter. It is important that you check your email regularly and make sure that your postal address on the system is up to date as required by Condition 8533 of your student visa. Deakin keeps records of all correspondence sent, so claiming not to have received a reminder is no excuse for non-payment.We want to ensure that all international students understand their rights and responsibilities and do not experience any problems with their student visas as a result of inaction.

Remember: If you have having financial difficulties, you should do the following:

1:  Send an email to the fees office explaining your situation. Be sure to advise them your name and student ID number.  If you are requesting an extension of time to pay your fees, make sure you tell the fees office when you think you will be able to pay. Be realistic and make sure that you stick to the date you have advised. It is important to check your email after you have written to the fees office as they will reply to you with instructions of what you need to do next. If you don't follow those instructions, your enrolment may be cancelled.

2:  You may also want to make an appointment to see an International Student Adviser on your  campus. Your campus ISA will be able to advise you on what other assistance that is available to you.

3:  It might also be good to speak to a Financial Assistance Officer on your campus.

Students seeking to remain in Australia after they complete their course in Australia may be interested in the following websites.

A good place to start is our visa section, which gives a number of links to migration information. This includes links to the SOL and CSOL and the migration points test. We suggest that you look through these links if you are interested in migration to Australia.

The following Government sites provide information about working in Australia and are particularly useful if you are looking for sponsorship in a regional area.

The "Goodmove" website provides information about careers in regional Victoria. This information is particularly useful if you are looking to migrate to Australia under the Regional Skilled Migration Scheme (RSMS). The "Find your career in regional Victoria" tile provides a number of links if you are looking for employment opportunities in regional Victoria.

The "Live in Victoria" website is a State Government website that provides information for skilled migrants, including information about the Skilled Nominated 190 and visa and the Skilled Regional 489 visas. There is also an "explore visa options" section that provides some useful information about other visa types.

All international students should be aware of their country visa assessment level for visa applications. The visa assessment level framework has recently changed, making requirements simpler for students.

Assessment levels 4 and 5 no longer exist. All former assessment level 4 and 5 countries have now been reduced to assessment level 3.

Financial requirements for assessment level 3 countries has now been reduced from 18 months to 12 months, however, because of this change, assessment level 3 applicants are required to be provided by the visa applicant or their close relative.

More information about the simplification of the student visa assessment level framework can be found on the DIBP website. We recommend that you read this information carefully.

If you are applying for a new student visa and are applying under the Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP) program, you are not assigned an assessment level and are assessed as lower risk.

Deakin University is an SVP eligible provider.

 All currently enrolled international students will have received an email from the International Quality and Compliance team asking them to confirm their address details.

Why did you receive this email?

Condition 8533 of your student visa requires that you notify the University of your residential address in Australia within 7 days of arriving in Australia or within 7 days of changing your address.

Under legislation, the University is required to confirm address details for all international students at least once every six months. Deakin does this the day after the last day to add an on campus unit to ensure that all students have re-enrolled.

What are you required to do?

If the address details in the email sent to you are correct, you do not need to do anything.

If the address details in the email sent to you are not correct, you MUST update your address details in StudentConnect immediately. There is no need to reply to the email.

Please ensure that you include a valid phone number in your contact details so that Deakin or the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) can contact you in an emergency.

It is important to note that this is a mandatory visa condition. Failure to comply may have a negative affect on your student visa.

The beginning of a trimester means a lot of compliance reporting is going on.

Please remember that Sunday 23 March is the last day to add on campus units. If you have not yet enrolled for 2014, you should do so immediately to avoid any possible problems later on. The compliance team is required to cancel the COE of any student who has failed to re-enrol on Monday 24 March.

It is important to make sure that you are correctly enrolled and that you are not enrolled exclusively in an online (cloud) unit if you are an international student on a student visa. If you have any questions about your enrolment, please contact a Faculty Course Adviser. The Compliance Team is not able to advise on enrolment matters.

Students should remember that Sunday 23 March is also the last day to discontinue your studies from T1 and receive a full refund of fees paid.Students who wish to discontinue their studies will be required to attend an exit interview with a Compliance Officer prior to the discontinuation being processed. A Compliance Officer will contact you if you lodge an online application for discontinuation.

We wish you all a successful Trimester 1, 2014!

Firstly, it's important to note that there is no such thing as "renewing" or "extending" your student visa. Each application is considered to be a new visa application and is processed accordingly.

When you apply for your student visa, it's important to follow the steps on the "how do I renew my student visa" page.

You need to be aware that your CoE is only valid for 45 days. You must lodge your visa application within 45 days of the date your CoE is issued. Otherwise it will expire and you will not be able to use it.

If you apply for an onshore CoE and then decide to renew your visa offshore, Deakin will not issue a new CoE for you unless there are exceptional circumstances which you can provide evidence of. You need to decide where you want to lodge your visa application and stick to that.We strongly recommend that you lodge your visa application onshore in Australia to avoid any problems. If you decide to lodge offshore, you will need to be aware of the possible problems that can happen.

Deakin cannot change the date on your CoE to a future date. If you apply for your visa online and the date is not accepted, you will need to lodge a paper application. This can take longer than an online application, so you should not wait until the last minute to lodge your application.

The most important thing to remember is that you should lodge your visa application as soon as possible after you get your CoE. Don't wait until it has expired or until after the course start date has passed.

T3 exams are over and for many students, that will mean the end of their studies at Deakin. If that is the case, congratulations and we wish you all the very best!

If, however, T3 was your final trimester and you applied for a deferred exam, there are some important things you need to know.

The supplementary and special exam period for T3 will be from Monday 9 June - Friday 20 June 2014. If you will not be enrolled in any units in T1, you cannot remain in Australia without studying until that time.

If you do not enrol in T1, your enrolment status will become INACTIVE. When this happens, we will be required to cancel your CoE as you have no active enrolment. Cancellation of your CoE may result in cancellation of your student visa.

If you are in this situation, you must contact the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) to ask advice on what your options are. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do this. Failing to do so may result in cancellation of your student visa.

If you would like to discuss this further, please contact a Compliance Officer for assistance.

Students who are considering changing their course must be aware of their visa conditions and ensure that they continue to meet the conditions of their student visa.

Students who wish to change to a new course and who were granted a visa under the Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP) arrangements MUST maintain enrolment in an SVP eligible course (or package of courses) with an education provider that is an SVP eligible provider.

If you enrol in a course (or package of courses) that is NOT eligible for SVP, you no longer meet the criteria for which your visa was granted and your visa may be cancelled. For more detailed information, please read the information of the DIBP website about changing courses

In early December 2013, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) will be making changes to their online visa lodgement services.

The changes will affect all current, saved and unsubmitted applications.

If you have an unsubmitted visa application when the changes are made, you will not be able to retrieve your application and you will have to start again.

If you do not want to lose your saved online visa application, DIBP encourages you to submit your application before 6 December 2013 or, if your application is not urgent, wait until the changes have been made and then submit your application.

Please ensure you meet all the relevant criteria before submitting your visa application.​

See the DIBP website for information about applying for the visa subclass 573 (coursework students)

See the DIBP website for information about applying for the visa subclass 574 (postgraduate research students)

Did you know that being granted an RIE result for T2 can affect your enrolment?

Did you apply for special consideration in exams this trimester and request that ALL of your exams be deferred to a later date due to compelling/compassionate circumstances?

Was you application approved?

If so, it is likely that your enrolment status will have changed to INACTIVE because you are not sitting exams this trimester.

If this is the case, the International Quality and Compliance team will be required to cancel your CoE if you meet one or more of the following critera:

1. You have no future enrolment at Deakin (i.e. you have not yet enrolled in T3 or T1)
2. This is not your final trimester of study

If this is your final trimester and you are waiting to do your deferred exam some time in T3, we will not cancel your CoE. However, if this is not your final trimester and you have not yet enrolled in either T3 or T1 next year, we will be required to report your CoE as you have no future enrolment. If this is the case, you will receive an email from us to advise that you are required to enrol by Wednesday 30 October, otherwise your CoE will be cancelled on Thursday 31 October.

We strongly recommend that students read the the FAQ "Can I stay in Australia if I am waiting to do a deferred exam in my final trimester?" on our Visa FAQ page for further advice about this.

DIBP has a great new tool on its website that will help you calculate the cost of your student visa.

The Visa Pricing Estimator is simple to use and will help you calculate the cost of your next visa application. Check it out.

The International Quality and Compliance team conducted an information session for international students on a range of commonly asked questions. The presentation has been saved below for your information.

Please note that the presentation is in Prezi format and may be slow to load if you have a slow internet connection.

To view the presentation below, use your mouse to zoom and pan in prezi: scroll to zoom, drag to pan. To view prezi in full screen, click 'More' and select 'Full screen'.

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Standard 9 of the National Code requires that international students on a student visa abide by certain enrolment conditions. These conditions are:

1. International students MUST complete their study within the duration specified on their CoE. This means that in most circumstances, you must complete your course before your CoE expires. The University is only allowed to permit you to extend your CoE in certain circumstances. These circumstances are: Compassionate or compelling circumstances (where you have a medical certificate to show that you were unable to attend class for an extended period of time or where a pre-requisite unit was not offered in a given trimester and you have to extend your course duration because of that), where you have been placed on an intervention strategy because you are an "at risk" student (for example, where you have failed units and will not be able to complete on time) or where you have had an approved intermission. Please note: If you have deliberately under-enrolled and not followed course advice and where you have not made up the time in Trimester 3, you will NOT be given a new CoE and will have to complete your course as an off campus student from your home country.
2. International students are not allowed to do more than 25% of their total course online or by distance education. Please read our FAQs about the 25% online study rule for more information.
3. International students are not allowed to study ONLY an online unit in a compulsory study period (T1 or T2).

It is important that you are aware of these rules to ensure that you don't have any problems later. Please understand that the University is required by law to refuse a new CoE for you to extend your course duration unless you meet the above conditions. We are also required to cancel your CoE if you study more than 25% of your total course online or by distance education or if you study only an online unit in a compulsory student period.

If you have any questions about this rule, please come to see a Compliance Officer in the Drop-in Centre (B2.37). Please refer to the drop in centre times for details.

Condition 8533 of your student visa requires that you provide details of your residential address in Australia at all times. We also require an active phone number for you in case of emergency. This visa condition says:

You must notify your education provider of your residential address in Australia within 7 days of arriving in Australia. You must notify your education provider of any change in your residential address within 7 days of the change.

At the end of week 2, the International Quality and Compliance team will run a report of all enrolled international students with their address details. You will be sent an email at that time which asks you to check the address listed on the email. If the address is correct, you do not need to take any further action. If the address is not correct, you will need to update your address by logging into StudentConnect and making the required change.

In preparation for this, we recommend that you check your address in the system and update it if required. If you experience any problems updating your address, please see a staff member at Deakin Central for assistance.

Please be reminded that condition 8533 is a mandatory visa condition and failure to update your address can have a negative impact on your student visa.

Many of you attended the recent DIBP session about visa options after you complete your studies at Deakin.One of the visa options discussed at that session was the post study work visa (subclass 485 - post-study work stream). We have received many enquiries from students asking whether or not they are eligible to apply for this visa upon completion of their degree.The main eligibility criteria for this visa are:

The main eligibility criteria for this visa are:

1. You are ONLY eligible for this visa if you applied for and were granted your FIRST student visa to Australia on or after 5 November 2011. If you applied for and were granted any student visa to Australia before this, you will not be eligible to apply for this stream. This will mean that most students who started their study in Australia before T1 2012 will NOT be eligible for this visa.
2. You must have completed an eligible degree and apply for the visa within 6 months of completion. Eligible degrees are:  A bachelor degree, a bachelor degree with honours, a master by coursework, a master by research a PhD degree.
3. You must meet the Australian study requirement to be eligible for this degree. This means that your course must be one of the above eligible degrees, it must be conducted in English, It must be in a course that is registered on CRICOS for at least 2 years and you must complete your degree in no less than 92 weeks.Your degree must be completed in Australia.
4. You should complete your studies in no less than 16 calendar months. This means that if you compress your course by fast-tracking you degree, you must ensure that you study for at least 16 calendar months if you wish to be eligible for this visa.

Question: Can I use a graduate certificate or graduate diploma to meet the study requirement?

A graduate certificate or graduate diploma can only be used if they lead to an eligible qualification (i.e. Master degree). The graduate certificate or graduate diploma should be in the same area of study as the master degree and should be done BEFORE the Master degree.

You can only use study that leads to an eligible qualification. You can not do a 1.5 year Master degree and then do a graduate certificate. This will not meet the study requirements.

Further information on this visa can be found on the DIBP website. Please click the link to the "Post-study work stream".

This week the Deakin International Quality and Compliance Team has, unfortunately, received a list of students whose enrolment has been cancelled for non-payment of fees.

We understand that students can find themselves in an unexpected financial crisis that affects their ability to pay their fees. If this happens to you, the most important thing to do is to talk to someone as soon as possible - BEFORE your enrolment is cancelled. Once your enrolment is cancelled for non-payment of fees, we are required by law to cancel your CoE within 5 working days.

Cancellation of enrolment for non-payment of fees will always be done on a Tuesday. The DI Quality and Compliance Team must cancel the CoE on Monday of the following week if payment has not been received by that date. This could result in cancellation of your student visa or refusal of a future student visa.

When your enrolment is cancelled for non-payment of fees, it can not be reinstated until you have paid the full outstanding tuition fees plus a $200 reinstatement fee.

So the message we want to get out to you all is to make sure you contact the University BEFORE your enrolment is cancelled. We want o help you and we don't like seeing students in trouble, but we can't help you if you don't talk to anyone.If you are experiencing financial problems, your first course of action should be to write to the fees office by emailing fees@deakin.edu.au to explain your situation and ask for an extension of time to pay your fees.

You can also make an appointment to see an International Student Adviser on your campus. Your campus ISA will be able to advise you on what other assistance that is available to you.

It might also be good to speak to a Financial Assistance Officer on your campus.

Whatever you do, please talk to someone. Once your enrolment has been cancelled, we have no option but to cancel your CoE.

As of 12 April 2013, students who have been reported for unsatisfactory academic progress or academic misconduct are no longer required to report to DIBP or depart Australia within 28 days of their CoE being cancelled.

Under the changes, a student now has 28 days to make arrangements for enrolment into a new course and commence study either in a new course at Deakin or with another provider. The student is not required to report to DIBP. DIBP will decide whether or not to interview a student who has been reported for unsatisfactory academic progress or whether to cancel the student's visa. The default position will be to allow the student to continue studying in Australia unless the student's history indicates that the student is not genuine.

Failure to enrol in a new course within 28 days may result in cancellation of your student visa. As you will be aware, the University cancels a student's CoE for inactive enrolment status, discontinuation, non-payment of fees, intermission, early completion and a range of other enrolment-related reasons. Students have 28 days from the date of their CoE cancellation date to either apply for a new CoE and enrol in a new course or to leave the country.

If a student remains in Australia for a period of more than 28 days without an enrolment, their visa may be cancelled.

Please contact the DI Quality and Compliance Team if you have any queries about these changes.