How Long Will Your Student Visa Take?

For Higher Education students, the official benchmark is 50% of applications processed within 28 days and 90% within 5 months. For ELICOS (English language courses), it's 22 days (50%) and 4 months (90%). PhD/Research students and TAFE students have similar timelines to ELICOS. Based on Guide to Heights' experience, a complete application from an Indian student to a Priority 1 university takes approximately 45–50 days. Incomplete applications, missing medicals, or biometric delays can significantly extend this.

Ministerial Direction 115 (MD115) came into effect on 14 November 2025 and replaced MD111. It sets the order in which offshore student visa applications are processed. Under MD115, your university's progress towards its annual student intake allocation (called NOSC — New Overseas Student Commencement) determines your priority: Priority 1 if the university is below 80% of its allocation (fastest), Priority 2 if between 80–115% (moderate), and Priority 3 if above 115% (slowest). Importantly, PhD students, TAFE students, ELICOS students, scholarship holders, and school students are always Priority 1 regardless of the university's threshold status. Priority level does NOT affect whether you are granted or refused — only the speed.

Yes. PhD and Master by Research (postgraduate research) students are always Priority 1 under MD115, regardless of which university you apply to and regardless of whether that university has reached its NOSC allocation threshold. This means PhD and research students effectively skip the queue that affects regular Higher Education students at popular universities. The official 50% benchmark for Postgraduate Research is 23 days. Additionally, PhD students' enrolments are excluded from the NOSC count entirely — so studying a PhD does not count against a university's threshold.

Several factors can extend your processing beyond the official benchmarks: (1) Medical examination not yet complete — the most common delay for Indian students; (2) Biometrics not submitted promptly after a request; (3) Missing documents or documents that need verification; (4) Character assessment issues such as a criminal record; (5) Integrity checks — the Department may conduct additional verification if there are concerns about your application; (6) University at Priority 2 or 3 — your application sits in a lower processing queue; (7) Peak periods (January–March) when lodgement volumes are highest. Guide to Heights advises submitting medicals immediately after lodgement to remove this as a bottleneck.

Yes. The Department of Home Affairs introduced computer-assisted auto-grant decisions for Subclass 500 from 2016–17. An auto-grant means your visa is issued by the system without a human case officer reviewing every detail. This is more likely when: your application is complete with all documents uploaded upfront, you have a clean travel and visa history, biometrics and medicals are complete, your university is Priority 1, and there are no integrity flags on your profile. According to FOI data (FA 21/07/01274), auto-grants for Student visas accounted for approximately 4–9% of decisions between 2017–2020. The auto-grant system can only issue grants — refusals always involve a human case officer. A clean, well-prepared application submitted by an experienced consultant gives you the best chance of a fast, automatic decision.

Yes. Almost all Indian applicants for the Subclass 500 Student visa are required to complete a medical examination with a DHA (Department of Home Affairs) approved panel physician. This typically includes a general health check and a chest X-ray for tuberculosis screening. The medical must be done AFTER you have been given a HAP ID (Health Assessment Portal ID) through ImmiAccount — do not book your medical before receiving this. Medical delays are one of the most common reasons for extended processing. We strongly advise completing your medical within 1–2 weeks of receiving your HAP ID.

Guide to Heights is a QEAC Certified consultancy (#10439, PIER) and British Council Recognised (#49805) with offices in Kochi (Kerala), Sharjah (UAE), and Melbourne (Australia). Our service includes: university and course selection, obtaining your CoE, preparing and reviewing all visa documents, writing your Genuine Student responses, advising on financial evidence, checking your university's priority status at time of lodgement, tracking your application, and advising on medical and biometrics timing. All services are 100% free — we are paid by our university partners, not by students. Book a free session at our Kochi office or WhatsApp +91 73065 83820.