CoE FAQs

CoE stands for Confirmation of Enrolment

Only international students who intend to study onshore in Australia on a student visa require a CoE.

International off campus students or international students who are not on a student visa, but may be on a temporary residence visa or temporary business visa, are considered international students for fee purposes only, but do not require a CoE. All other international students must have a valid CoE at all times.

Yes. An international student who is on a student visa must have a valid CoE at all times - even if your visa is still valid.

If your CoE finishes or is cancelled before your student visa expires, your visa is at risk of being cancelled because you have no CoE. If, for example, your CoE finished on 30/03/2013 and your visa expires on 30/08/2013, you MUST get a new CoE if you intend to continue studying. If your CoE is finished or is cancelled for any reason before your visa expires, your visa may be cancelled.

If you complete your course before the end date on your CoE and you do not intend to study another course, you can not remain in Australia on a student visa. Your student visa is valid only as long as you continue studying.

If, for example, your visa expires on 30 August this year but you finished your course on 30 March this year, your CoE will be reported on and DIBP will be advised that you are no longer studying. This may result in your student visa being cancelled. Your student visa is only valid as long as you are studying, even if the end date has not yet passed. Students are expected to either leave Australia within 28 days of their CoE finishing or being cancelled, or apply for a new CoE and/or student visa.

If you finish your study on time and your CoE finishes naturally, you can stay in Australia until your visa expires. In other words, if (for example) you complete your study at the end of T2 and your CoE expires at the end of October, but your student visa is valid until March the following year, you can stay in Australia as long as your visa is valid.

Details on how a student is required to extend their CoE can be found on the current international student site under "Apply for a new CoE."

No. The University is only permitted to extend the duration of the student's study where it is clear that the student will not complete the course within the expected duration, as specified on the student's CoE, as a result of:

• Compassionate or compelling circumstances (for example in the case of illness where a medical certificate is evidence of the student's inability to attend classes for an extended period or where the course progression rules prevent a student from completing certain units because they may have failed a prerequisite unit);
• The University implementing its intervention strategy for students who are at risk of unsatisfactory academic progress; or
• An approved deferment or intermission of student has been granted.

Under standard 9 of the National Code, international students are required to complete their course within the expected duration. The University is not permitted to issue a CoE to enable to student to extend their visa unless in the case of one of the above exceptions.

Where a student has failed a unit and that failure will impact on the expected course duration, DSA will send a letter to the student advising them of the fail and how to seek assistance within the University. DSA will put an intervention note type on Callista that will indicate that, in such circumstances, the student can be issued a new CoE.

If you have deliberately under-enrolled each trimester without Faculty approval and not made up the time in T3, you may not be allowed to get a new CoE. In the case that a new CoE can not be issued, you can transfer to off campus mode and complete your degree from your home country.

Further information about this can be found in Standard 9 of the National Code.

Yes. If you are a continuing student and you request a CoE to apply for a new student visa, you MUST use your CoE to apply for your new visa within 45 days of the date the CoE is issued, otherwise it will expire and you won't be able to lodge a visa application. You must also lodge your visa application before the course start date on the CoE, otherwise the online visa application system will not allow you to lodge the application.

Yes. You may apply for an extension CoE before your results for the current trimester are released, however, this is not recommended. If you fail a unit in the current trimester and you have applied for a CoE before your results are released, the CoE end date may be affected. If you apply for a visa using a CoE that has an incorrect course end date as a result of this, you may be required to lodge a further visa application at future date. This will be at your own expense.

The COE start and end dates are listed on your COE. You are expected to complete your course within the date range listed on your COE. If you have applied for a new COE to allow you additional time to complete your course, the COE start and end date will be the date range for your approved extension period.