Travel
Include the Home Affairs travel allowance relevant to where each applicant applies and expects to travel from.
Student Visa Financial Requirements and Evidence (Subclass 500)
Understand how much money your Australian Student visa application must cover, when financial evidence is required, what documents may be accepted and how to show genuine access to the funds.
Do you need to provide financial evidence?
Use the Home Affairs Document Checklist Tool with your passport country and education provider, then check the final document list in ImmiAccount before submitting.
- If financial capacity is listed: attach the required evidence before you submit. Home Affairs says the application may be refused without a further request if it is missing.
- If it is not listed: you may not need to attach it at lodgement, but Home Affairs can still ask for financial evidence while processing the application.
- If family applies later: every subsequent entrant must attach financial capacity evidence; the checklist result does not remove that requirement.
- Immediately before lodgement: run the checklist again and use the list shown in ImmiAccount, because evidence settings can change.
How much money is required for a Student visa?
There is no single bank-balance figure for every subclass 500 application. Build the required amount from the cost categories that apply to the student and any accompanying family.
Course fees
Use up to the first 12 months of course fees, or the total for a shorter course. Deduct fees already paid and keep the receipt or Confirmation of Enrolment as evidence.
Living costs
Include 12 months of living costs for the student and every accompanying family member, or the relevant pro-rata period for a stay under 12 months.
Children's schooling
Add the applicable school costs for each school-age child unless a Home Affairs exemption applies, and check the actual fees for the intended state and school.
Use current figures: financial thresholds can change, so this guide does not freeze dollar amounts. Check the Home Affairs Student visa page under Step by step → Gather your documents immediately before lodgement. The visa minimum may also be lower than your real costs in Australia.
Which financial documents should you prepare?
Choose the evidence route that matches the real funding plan. Home Affairs may consider both the form of the funds and whether the applicant genuinely has access to them.
Savings or deposits
Provide financial institution evidence and recent transaction history. Explain how the balance accumulated, including regular salary income or the documented source of deposits.
Parent or partner support
Connect the fund provider to the applicant with relationship and identity evidence. Add the provider's funding evidence and any history of support for the applicant or another Student visa holder.
Education or other loan
Provide the lender, approved amount, terms and payment arrangements. For other loans, include security and evidence that ongoing costs can be met; evidence of disbursement is strongest for showing access.
Scholarship or business funds
Include the scholarship or support evidence and its coverage. If support comes through a business, provide evidence that the business is operating and explain the path from the business to the student's available funds.
Alternative annual-income route: a parent or partner may be able to meet the requirement through personal annual income. Home Affairs requires the current threshold and official government income evidence, such as a tax assessment less than 12 months old; it says bank statements or direct employer evidence are not accepted for this particular route.
What does genuine access to funds mean?
The balance must be genuinely available for study and living costs. The evidence should make it easy to follow who owns the money, where it came from and how the student can use it in Australia.
- Show the account holder, current funds and enough transaction history to explain accumulation.
- Where another person provides funds, show their identity, relationship to the applicant and evidence of previous support where relevant.
- For business-derived funds, show that the business operates and document how money became available to the student.
- For a loan, show the conditions, payment pathway and, where available, evidence that funds have been disbursed.
A practical subclass 500 financial evidence process
Prepare one coherent file rather than a collection of balances with no explanation.
Confirm the requirement
Run the Document Checklist Tool, check the final ImmiAccount list and identify every applicant included now or joining later.
Calculate the total
Use the current Home Affairs figures and actual course records for travel, tuition, living and schooling costs.
Map every funding source
Record the account, owner, amount, source, history and access pathway for savings, sponsor funds, loans or scholarships.
Cross-check the story
Make names, dates, paid fees, family details and funding explanations consistent with the application and Genuine Student evidence.
Student Visa Financial Requirements FAQs
Direct answers to common questions about subclass 500 funds and supporting evidence.
How much money do I need for an Australian Student visa?
There is no single bank-balance amount for every application. Home Affairs calculates financial capacity from relevant travel costs, up to 12 months of course fees, 12 months of living costs for the student and accompanying family, and school costs for school-age children. Use the current figures on the official Student visa page when preparing to lodge.
Does every subclass 500 applicant need financial evidence?
Not necessarily at lodgement. Check the Home Affairs Document Checklist Tool and the list in ImmiAccount. If financial capacity evidence is listed, attach it before submitting. Home Affairs may still request it during processing, and subsequent entrant family members must attach it.
What can count as Student visa financial evidence?
Home Affairs lists deposits with a financial institution, a government loan or loan from a financial institution, and scholarships or similar financial support. A parent or partner annual-income route may also be available, subject to the current threshold and specified government evidence.
Can my parents or partner provide the funds?
Yes, but show genuine access to the money. If another person provides funds, Home Affairs asks for evidence of the relationship, their identity documents and evidence of financial support they have provided to you or another Student visa holder in the past. The source and availability of the funds should also be clear.
Is a one-day bank balance certificate enough?
A one-day balance certificate does not show how the funds increased. Home Affairs gives recent bank transaction statements and regular payments or growth patterns, such as salary income, as examples that can help explain how deposits accumulated.
What evidence should I provide for an education loan?
For an education loan, provide the terms and full amount payable, plus evidence of any funds received before a decision. For another kind of loan, Home Affairs also asks for evidence of security, the loan terms and capacity to cover ongoing costs. Home Affairs describes evidence of disbursement as the best evidence of genuine access when relying on a loan.
Can I rely on work in Australia to cover my costs?
Home Affairs says students should not rely on work to support themselves or their family in Australia. The visa financial requirement is a minimum, and actual living costs may be higher, so prepare a realistic budget for the location and family circumstances.
Continue your student visa research
Use the main pathway page and related evidence guides before requesting advice.
Student visa 500
Review the overall subclass 500 pathway, evidence categories and common concerns.
Open student visa guideGenuine Student
Understand the GS questions, evidence and consistency checks.
Open GS guideOSHC cover
Check Overseas Student Health Cover options for the student and accompanying family.
Open insurance guideCourse changes
Check course level, provider transfer rules and visa conditions before changing.
Open course-change guideRefusal and review
Read the decision letter, protect the deadline and plan written evidence.
Open refusal guideCourse admission
Connect course choice, admission timing, OSHC and student visa preparation.
Open admission guideWant your funding plan checked before lodgement?
Request a review of the required amount, source of funds, sponsor or loan documents and genuine-access evidence for your subclass 500 application.