485 Temporary Graduate visa refused: the reasons, the ones that cannot be fixed, and what to do

MARN 1576536

The time-of-application criteria

Most visas have criteria assessed at the time of decision, which an applicant can satisfy after lodging by supplying what was missing. The 485 is unusual in how much it fixes at the time of application: the English test result must exist, the Australian study requirement must be met and the qualification completed, the applicant must be under the age limit, the application must be in a stream the qualification supports, the Australian Federal Police check must have been requested, and the applicant must hold an eligible visa. An application that is deficient on any of these on the day of lodgement is refused however the deficiency is later cured, and the Tribunal, which applies the same regulation, refuses it again. That is why the first question after a 485 refusal is which kind of ground it was.

English

The applicant must provide, with the application, evidence of an English test taken within the three years before the application, at the score required for the stream, or evidence of a passport from one of the exempt countries. A test booked for after lodgement, a result that arrived a day after, a test older than three years on the lodgement date, or a result that meets the overall score but not a component, each produces a refusal that review cannot fix, because the regulation asks whether the evidence was provided at the time of application. The required scores changed in 2024 and the approved tests changed in 2025; an applicant relying on an older test checks both. The English scores guide sets out the current thresholds.

The Australian study requirement

The applicant must have completed one or more CRICOS-registered courses at an Australian institution, in English, totalling at least 92 weeks of registered duration, undertaken over a period of at least sixteen calendar months, resulting in a qualification at the level the stream requires, and completed within the six months before the application. The refusals come from each element: a course whose registered duration was less than claimed, two courses that overlapped so the weeks were counted twice, a course completed in fewer than sixteen months by acceleration, a course not CRICOS-registered or not in English, a qualification not at the required level, and above all an application lodged more than six months after the completion date on the completion letter. The completion date is the date the institution notifies the result, not the graduation ceremony, and it is the date the six months runs from.

The stream, the age, the AFP check, the insurance

• The stream. The Post-Vocational Education Work stream and the Post-Higher Education Work stream each require a qualification of a particular kind, and an application lodged in the stream the qualification does not support is refused; the Tribunal can correct a case where the Department misread the qualification, not one where the applicant chose the wrong stream and the qualification does not fit it.
• The age. Since 1 July 2024 the applicant must be under 35 at the time of application, with exceptions for certain research qualifications and for Hong Kong and British National (Overseas) passport holders. An applicant who turned 35 the day before lodging is refused.
• The AFP check. The applicant must have applied for an Australian Federal Police check before lodging and provide evidence of the request; the certificate itself can follow. A check requested the day after is a refusal ground.
• Health insurance. Adequate health insurance must be held at lodgement and maintained, and an applicant whose OSHC lapsed at course end without replacement has a gap that is a refusal ground where the Department finds it.
• The eligible visa. The applicant must hold a student visa, or have held one within the previous six months, or hold another eligible substantive visa, at lodgement.

A previous 485, and false information

A person who has held a 485 cannot be granted another, except the second regional 485 for graduates who lived and worked in a regional area on their first, and a person who has held a 476 is likewise barred. An application by a person who has already had a 485 in a different stream is refused on this ground alone. False or misleading information, or a bogus document, in the application or any earlier one engages Public Interest Criterion 4020, with a refusal and a three-year bar on most further visas; the commonest case in 485 applications is a doctored completion letter or a fabricated English result, which the Department verifies with the institution and the test provider as a matter of routine. The second 485 guide covers the regional exception.

Fixable or final

Fixable at review: the Department miscounted the CRICOS weeks or the calendar months; misread the completion date and treated the application as outside the six months when it was inside; misapplied the stream to a qualification that does support it; overlooked a test result that was in fact uploaded; or made a factual error about the visa held. In each, the Tribunal substitutes the correct finding. Final: the test was taken after lodgement or was more than three years old; the applicant was 35; the AFP check was requested after lodgement; the application was lodged more than six months after completion; the qualification does not support any stream; a 485 was previously held. In each, the Tribunal affirms, and the time spent on review is time that could have gone to the alternative. The decision record states the ground; reading it correctly is the whole of the first step.

Withdraw and relodge

An applicant who discovers the defect before the Department decides, who still holds the student visa or another substantive visa, and who is still inside the six months from completion, withdraws the defective application and lodges a correct one, with the test result and the AFP request predating it. Withdrawal before refusal avoids the refusal record and the section 48 bar, and the new application attracts a new bridging visa. The window is narrow: the student visa usually ends shortly after the course, and the six months runs from completion whatever the Department does with the first application. The withdrawal guide covers the mechanics.

Review at the Tribunal

A 485 refused to an applicant in Australia is reviewable at the Administrative Review Tribunal, and the application for review must be lodged within the period on the decision letter, usually 28 days from the date the applicant is taken to have received it; the period cannot be extended. The Tribunal considers the criteria afresh, with the time-of-application criteria assessed as at the original lodgement date and the time-of-decision criteria as at the Tribunal's decision. Review is lodged where the ground is fixable, and it is lodged in time where the ground is uncertain, because lodging preserves the bridging visa while the question is worked out. Review of a final ground is not lodged in the hope that the Tribunal will be lenient; it has no power to be.

The bridging visa and the section 48 bar

The bridging visa A granted on lodgement continues after the refusal for the review period and, where review is lodged in time, until the Tribunal's decision and a short period after. It carries the work rights the 485 would have given. Where review is not lodged, it ends 35 days after the refusal, and the applicant must by then leave Australia or hold another visa. A refusal brings the section 48 bar, under which a person in Australia without a substantive visa whose application has been refused cannot apply onshore for most visas; the exceptions include partner and protection visas and, since 2021, the 190, 491 and 494 where a nomination is in hand, and a fresh 485 is not among them. The section 48 guide sets out the exceptions and the offshore route.

If the 485 is gone

The routes are the ones that exist for a graduate whose 485 has ended, taken earlier: employer sponsorship on a 482 or 494 where an employer will nominate, lodged onshore if the section 48 exceptions allow or from outside Australia if not; a state nomination for the 190 or 491, which is a section 48 exception; a further student visa, which since 2 October 2026 is usually applied for from outside Australia; a partner visa where the relationship exists; or leaving and applying from home with the refusal declared and explained. The decision record, the visa held, and the date are what decide which, and the 485 ending guide sets out each route in full.

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General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Subclass 485 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994, regulation 1.15F (Australian study requirement), section 48 of the Migration Act 1958, and the review provisions in Part 5 of the Act, as in force at the date above. Review periods are stated on the decision record and govern. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.