Work for Students in Australia

All students enrolled for more than 3 months in Australia must have a Student Visa. After initiated the course, international students can request a Permission to Work at the immigration office. To get it, they need to go to closest office of immigration  with the passport, fill the form 157 P signed by the school, the letter of the school saying that the person already initiated the course and pay a tax of about A$ 60. All this process can also be done online and usually takes one week to process the application. This permission to work (stamp in the passport) has the same duration of the visa, and will finish when the student visa expires. The permission to work can be applied for all international students from 16 years old. 

International students can work any time during the day or night if it the timetable is not in conflict with the schedule of the course. The  immigration understands this permission as an allowance, helping the student to pay some expenses, but not as the main objective. International students can work legally 20 hours weekly, and during national holiday and vacation, they can work full time. We do not know how these hours are verified, but if students miss classes to work and have attendance problems with less than 80 %, the school is obliged to report to immigration, and than means big problems. Business breaching the law may also receive fines.   

  The Spouse or partner of international student ( if married or in a relationship "De facto") can also have a part time job or 20 hours per week. Only the partner of student in courses such as PHD or Master with research, can receive the permission to work full time and do not need to be studying . If the International student bring the kids (less than 18 years), they also can work part time, but the kids need to be enrolled in a course. The study for the children is not free for international students and they will have to be enrolled in full time course. In a couple, only one person needs to apply and pay for the Student Visa and the course. The partner can share the living expenses and may work part time, so it may help. But it will be necessary to pay an extra amount for the OSHC Health insurance covering the family or the couple, and in the application for the student visa, it will be necessary to show extra income to support the family or couple (or show sponsors for both). It is possible to start a marriege or a relationship in Australia with a person with student visa and than become the partner of the international student during the stay in Australia. This can happen even after having initiated the studies in Australia, but it will be necessary to provided all documentation in support the claim to the immigration department.  

With the limitation of time occupied by the study, students have to look for jobs available outside the traditional working hours, as they will be probably busy until 3 pm (most English Courses are between 8 to 3 pm).  Many Shopping Centres and commercial city centres in Australia close early around 5:30 pm. But there is a strong demand for evening and night work within the hospitality industry, and that fits very well, as this jobs offer flexible shifts in all kind of occupations in restaurants or hotels. There are some nocturnal jobs, as cleaners in commercial offices and in the IT industry but for this one it is necessary to have a specific knowledge. There are many opportunities in commercial and services business such as in Pizza places where students are contracted to prepare and deliver pizza (to deliver you will need to have car) and many restaurants have students as waiters and preparing food. So it's perfectly possible to find a job to conciliate the course, and also work in the weekends and holidays.

In reality the job offer in Australia in the lastast years has grown a lot, and there are many opportunities to work. Practically all International students we know, the one that have looked for work, got the jobs, some are even with more than one job. In general they are casual and getting something between A$ 13 and A$ 20 and more in the hours paid in national holidays and Sundays for some kind of work and industry.

Of course, the better knowledge of the English, more chances and possibilities of bigger wages. For those with communication problems in English, it will be much more difficult, restricting to look for jobs  washing cars,  washing dishes in restaurants, cleaning etc. For those with good level of English, they can also try qualified professional jobs and look for work in your specialization. For better chances it's better apply for a job with a Resume in the Australian Style.

One of the most frequent questions about work is if it will be enough to pay all the expenditures. The answer fot this question depends on many factors, such as the level knowledge of the person and the kind of job. For few it may be and for the most problably not. For example, we know a student in the last year of IT, she was working at night, 10 hours in Saturday and 8 hours Sunday, with a wage of A$ 35,80. So during the weekend she was getting around A$ 700, working with database. Other person was washing dishes 3 times per week, getting no more than A$ 190, what it is not enough pay many expenses. Therefore we suggest to always have a financial reserve for emergencies. Anyway, we encourage all students to look for jobs without fear. Do not give up, because there are plenty of opportunities . 

Job offer: Employment agency is looking for International Student to act as a Kangaroo in the latest movie in Australia.