#3 destination for Nepali students
Australia
The hardest of the five English-speaking destinations to get a visa for right now, and the one where an application is most often refused on the story rather than the paperwork. The AUD 2,000 lodgement fee is not refunded when that happens.
Odds
36 in 100 applications from Nepal are granted
Around two in three offshore applications from Nepal are refused, the highest rate ever recorded for Nepali applicants. The Genuine Student requirement is where most of them fail, not the academics.
What gets through
Students whose story holds up. Australia refuses on the Genuine Student statement far more than on marks or money, so what gets through is a course that plainly follows from what you have already done, a reason it has to be Australia specifically, and a sponsor whose income has been in a bank for months rather than weeks. Regional campuses are markedly easier and carry extra points later.
Of every ten who apply
6 refused, 4 granted.
Money
What it costs, in rupees
Before you fly
3.9 lakh
Tests, papers, government fees and the flight.
Must be in the bank
32.5 lakh
Twelve months of living costs for a single applicant. Your first year of tuition and a return airfare sit on top of it. The department looks at where the money came from and whether you can actually reach it, not only at the balance.
Everything, year one
61.2 lakh
Including tuition at the lower end and twelve months of living costs.
At NPR 109.51 per AUD, Nepal Rastra Bank, 2026-09-20.
Life there
What Australia is actually like once you land
Wages, rent, the first job you will realistically get, and whether staying is a plan or a hope. All of it in the local currency, because that is what you will be thinking in by month two.
What you can earn
AUD 33.05 /hourest
The casual rate from 1 July 2026, which includes the 25 percent casual loading almost every student job carries. The base national minimum is lower.
Fair Work Ombudsman ↗Legal hours
48 hours a fortnight during term, unrestricted in scheduled breaks.
Which comes to, per month
AUD 3,437
Working the full legal hours at the minimum rate, before tax.
Against living costs of
AUD 1,300 /month
Work covers your living costs with about 164 percent to spare. It does not touch tuition.
A room costs
AUD 250–400est
a room in a shared house in Sydney or Melbourne, quoted weekly.
Australia advertises rent weekly. AUD 250 to 400 a week is roughly AUD 1,080 to 1,730 a month. Adelaide, Perth and regional campuses are cheaper and carry extra points toward permanent residency.
The highest student earnings of the five by a distance: 48 hours a fortnight at the casual rate is around AUD 3,400 a month before tax. That is the honest reason Australia stays popular despite having the worst refusal rate on this site.
The first job
What people actually get in the first six months
- Cafés and hospitality, the classic Melbourne and Sydney student job
- Supermarket, Coles and Woolworths, reliable hours and proper rates
- Cleaning, both commercial and domestic
- Kitchen hand and food delivery
- Aged care and disability support, the best paid route if your course fits
Who is already there
The Nepali community
2,13,580
Nepalis in Australia, as of 2025.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, via Nepalese Australians ↗Where. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, with Nepali-owned businesses in all three.
By far the largest and most established Nepali community of the five, and almost all of it arrived after 2006. In practice that means a room, a first job and a SIM card can all be arranged through people from home in your first week.
Afterwards
Can you stay?
Post-study work. Temporary Graduate visa, subclass 485, two to four years depending on the qualification and up to six in regional areas.
The route to residency. General Skilled Migration, points-tested, or a state nomination under subclass 190.
A points game played over years, and the points are things you can go and get. Studying and living regionally is the single most effective lever, and a skilled occupation on the list plus good English does most of the rest. The 213,000 Nepalis already in Australia are the evidence that it works; the ones who got there quickly are the ones who planned for the points before they chose the course.
Staying is what families are really paying for, so it is the line most worth being straight about. What is above is the route and what actually moves it, and it changes on this page when the rules change.
Worth knowing before you go
Two in three applications from Nepal are refused
The highest rate ever recorded for Nepali applicants, and the AUD 2,000 lodgement fee is not returned. Australia is the best place on this list to earn and the hardest to reach.
The Genuine Student statement is the whole application
Not your marks. An officer is looking for why this course, in this country, for you specifically, and a statement that could belong to anybody fails.
Casual work has no floor
The rate is excellent and the hours are not guaranteed. A quiet fortnight in a café is a quiet fortnight in your bank account.
The biggest Nepali community of our five countries is already there
213,580 people, nearly all arrived since 2006. A room, a first job and a SIM card can genuinely be arranged through people from home in your first week.
Requirements
What it asks for
IELTS 6.0 for most, 6.5 for postgraduate. Genuine Student statement matters more than the score.
The Home Affairs financial capacity figure for a single applicant.
Subclass 500, raised from AUD 1,600 on 1 July 2025. Not refunded if the visa is refused.
Overseas Student Health Cover, single, per year.
Work
During study. 48 hours a fortnight during term, unrestricted in breaks.
Afterwards. Temporary Graduate visa, 2 to 4 years depending on qualification.
Work rights are what you may do once you are there. No country on this site will grant a visa on the strength of money you have not earned yet, so the first year has to be funded without them.
Intakes
When to apply
July 2027main intake
144 days
Teaching starts Jul 2027. Offer in hand by 11 February 2027.
November 2027
281 days
Teaching starts Nov 2027. Offer in hand by 28 June 2027.
February 2028main intake
359 days
Teaching starts Feb 2028. Offer in hand by 14 September 2027.
Before the NOC
The No Objection Certificate cannot be applied for until the offer exists. It costs NPR 2,000, is paid through ConnectIPS, eSewa or Khalti, and takes three to seven working days. Since 2024 the whole thing is online and the certificate comes back as a signed PDF with a QR code on it.
Other destinations