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Student visa (500) - Higher Education Sector
Check estimated processing times for the Australian Student visa (Subclass 500) - Higher Education Sector stream. Based on data from 4.5 million visa decisions obtained from the Department of Home Affairs via FOI.
Your estimated processing time
19 days
Typical processing timeSeptember 2026
25% decided within10 days
75% decided within40 days
90% decided within2 months
Student visa processing times by nationality
How long the Student visa takes can vary depending on your passport, based on real decided applications: choose a nationality below for the full breakdown.| Nationality | Outside Australia | In Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Less than 1 day | 2 months |
| Japan | Less than 1 day | Less than 1 day |
| Sweden | 4 days | Less than 1 day |
| United Arab Emirates | 10 days | Less than 1 day |
| People's Republic of China | 5 days | 24 days |
| France | 5 days | 2 months |
| Cambodia | 6 days | 29 days |
| Italy | 6 days | 3 months |
| Norway | 6 days | 15 days |
| Fiji | 7 days | 3 months |
| Mauritius | 7 days | 3 months |
| Spain | 7 days | 3 months |
| Kuwait | 12 days | 8 days |
| Mexico | 8 days | 3 months |
| Canada | 9 days | 38 days |
| Taiwan, Province of China | 9 days | 17 days |
| United Kingdom | 9 days | 47 days |
| Chile | 11 days | 3 months |
| Hong Kong | 11 days | 51 days |
| Malaysia | 11 days | 23 days |
| Papua New Guinea | 11 days | 3 months |
| Portugal | 11 days | 2 months |
| Russian Federation | 11 days | 3 months |
| Saudi Arabia | 11 days | 3 months |
| United States of America | 11 days | 32 days |
| Bangladesh | 12 days | 3 months |
| Indonesia | 12 days | 47 days |
| Colombia | 13 days | 3 months |
| South Korea | 13 days | 52 days |
| Macao | 13 days | – |
| Thailand | 13 days | 3 months |
| Peru | 14 days | 3 months |
| Singapore | 14 days | 47 days |
| Uzbekistan | 15 days | – |
| Jordan | 16 days | 4 months |
| Sri Lanka | 17 days | 3 months |
| Brazil | 18 days | 3 months |
| Mongolia | 18 days | 4 months |
| India | 19 days | 3 months |
| Nepal | 19 days | 4 months |
| South Africa | 19 days | 3 months |
| Türkiye | 19 days | 4 months |
| Philippines | 20 days | 3 months |
| Bhutan | 21 days | 4 months |
| Islamic Republic of Iran | 21 days | 3 months |
| Pakistan | 22 days | 4 months |
| Lao People's Democratic Republic | 23 days | 3 months |
| Vietnam | 26 days | 56 days |
| Uganda | 37 days | 4 months |
| Kenya | 42 days | 4 months |
| Zimbabwe | 43 days | 4 months |
| Myanmar | 45 days | 3 months |
| Nigeria | 45 days | 4 months |
| Ghana | 53 days | 4 months |
| Argentina | – | 3 months |
About Student visa processing times
About this data
The times shown above are monthly averages for the Student visa, aggregated across all applicants. Your actual processing time may differ significantly based on your citizenship and where you apply from.Where this data comes from
This data is derived from approximately 4.5 million visa grants obtained from the Department of Home Affairs via Freedom of Information request (Reference: DA25/10/00449), covering July 2024 to September 2025. View the released document.Methodology
Processing times shown are monthly averages for this visa subclass and stream, aggregated across all countries and application locations.Times are presented as percentiles (25th, 50th, 75th, 90th) showing what proportion of applicants received decisions within each timeframe.Data is updated monthly when new information becomes available from the Department of Home Affairs.