Prime Highlights:

From 1st January 2025, all international students must include a Confirmation of Enrollment or CoE as part of the application for the student visa to Australia.

Letters of Offer from education providers will not be accepted for visa processing at the Australian Department of Home Affairs.

Applications for visas lodged without a CoE will be invalid, and any associated Bridging visas cannot be granted.

Key Background:

From January 1, 2025, international students who apply to study in Australia will be made to submit the Confirmation of Enrollment with a visa application from the Australian Department of Home Affairs. This decision has reversed the status quo, especially from the situation where a student visa application process was acceptable with only a Letter of Offer from any educational institution.

The Department of Home Affairs clarified that the new requirement will apply to all visa applications submitted on or after January 1, 2025. Applicants who submit their applications before this date using only a Letter of Offer will not be affected, as the previous rules will still apply.

A Confirmation of Enrollment (CoE) is a document issued by the educational institution to confirm a student’s acceptance into a registered course. According to the Home Affairs notice, including a CoE with the visa application serves as evidence of the applicant’s commitment to studying at the designated institution. Failure to provide this document will render the application invalid, preventing any visa decision from being made. Additionally, applicants without a valid application will not be eligible for a Bridging visa.

While the new policy applies to all onshore applicants, there are exceptions. Foreign Affairs, Defence, and secondary exchange students are not required to submit a CoE, as alternative forms of evidence of their intended course of study will still be accepted.It was a little over a week following the announcement of a massive surge in international student visa fees, which stood at an AUD 1,600 instead of the former price of AUD 710 since July 2024. The Australian government divulged that the new fee reflects the cost of administering the visa program as well as supporting the growing number of international students in the country.

It reflects the commitment of Australia to further strengthen the student visa process by ensuring that students have a strong commitment at the time of application to pursue studies in the country. CoE is likely to strengthen the integrity of the visa system by clearly showing the academic intentions of the applicant. It is therefore very fundamental for international students to

update all visa requirements in advance for this new regulation so that their applications will undergo smooth processing