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Student visa (500) - Defence or DFAT sponsored student
Check estimated processing times for the Australian Student visa (Subclass 500) - Defence or DFAT sponsored student stream. Based on data from 4.5 million visa decisions obtained from the Department of Home Affairs via FOI.
Your estimated processing time
4 days
Typical processing timeAugust 2026
25% decided within2 days
75% decided within11 days
90% decided within31 days
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fiji | 2 days | – |
| Indonesia | 2 days | – |
| Thailand | 2 days | – |
| Tonga | 2 days | – |
| Vanuatu | 2 days | – |
| Lao People's Democratic Republic | 3 days | – |
| Malaysia | 3 days | – |
| Sri Lanka | 3 days | – |
| Cambodia | 4 days | – |
| Philippines | 4 days | – |
| Timor-Leste | 4 days | – |
| Bangladesh | 5 days | – |
| Papua New Guinea | 5 days | – |
| Solomon Islands | 5 days | – |
| Vietnam | 5 days | – |
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.