The Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa allows recent engineering graduates to live, work, or study in Australia for up to 18 months. To be eligible for the Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa, you must have completed a degree or higher qualification from a specified institution within the past 2 years, and be under 31 years of age.
The Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa has been capped from December 22, 2023. If you have an application pending you will be able to apply for a repayment of your Visa Application Charge (VAC). The details of the Skilled-Recognised Graduate Visa 2024 will be awaited from the Australian government. With this visa you can travel, work, and study in Australia. You can usually stay in Australia for 18 months as this is a temporary visa.
When you apply, you must have completed an engineering course for which you were awarded a degree or higher qualification in the last 2 years. This could be a bachelors degree, masters degree, doctoral degree, postgraduate diploma. This qualification must be in an engineering discipline, such as civil engineering, structural engineering, chemical engineering, environmental engineering, electrical and electronics engineering etc.
An engineering degree (or higher qualification) from the following are also accepted:
India – Anna University, Chennai
India – Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
India – Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
India – Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
India – Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad
Back in 2022, the Australian government extended the visas of those eligible skilled, recognised graduate (subclass 476) visa holders who lost time in Australia due to covid 19 international border restrictions. At that time, the eligible Skilled Recognised Graduate (Subclass 476) visa holders had their visas extended for 24 months as they lost time due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. This extension provided eligible visa holders with the usual length of the visa plus an additional six months.
You must not have previously been the primary holder of a Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) visa or a Skilled – Recognised Graduate (subclass 476) visa, unless you held one as members of the family unit.
You can include members of the family unit in your application when you apply. Family members who apply for the visa must meet our health and character requirements. You can add your children to the application until a decision on your application is made. You can’t add any other member of the family unit to your application during that period. The visa costs AUD465.00 for the main applicant.
There is also a charge for each family member who applies for the visa with you. You might also have to pay other costs for health checks, police certificates and biometrics.
The current status is that no new applications under the Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa program can be filed until the Australian government removes the cap and starts accepting fresh applications from 2024 onwards.