Budget Policy

  A 485 visa holder can study, work and live in Australia for up to 5 years. It is necessary to maintain adequate health insurance. Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) policy covers unexpected medical expenses in case of getting injured or sick during the stay in Australia. The minimum health insurance for 485 visas is up to 3 months; the maximum depends on a person’s situation. It is also called a temporary graduate visa. All 485 visa holders must purchase an OVHC health insurance policy to meet the visa requirements. Subclass 485 visa holders of both graduate and post-study work streams must satisfy visa condition 8501. The overseas students going to Australia on a subclass 500 study visa must change their visa type from subclass 500 to 485 after completing their studies and move from Overseas Students Health Cover (OSHC) to a working Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) health insurance policy. Benefits The OVHC policy will cover the following. Public hospital...

The Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) health insurance policy helps international students with medical and hospital care costs during their stay in Australia. It pays for the student’s limited benefits for pharmaceuticals (medicines) and ambulance services. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIC) requires that all individuals carrying a student visa must maintain OSHC in Australia for their stay. The Australian government does not cover overseas students’ health or medical expenses under the 'Medicare' public health insurance system. In addition, it will be very costly for an overseas student to cover the amount of hospital and other medical treatment on his or her own without OSHC. Before buying the health insurance policy, the overseas students contact many health insurance providers to select the most suitable one according to their visa type. Academic institutions provide health insurance policies to international students, but many academic institut...