The MATES visa (subclass 403): two years in Australia for recent Indian graduates, by ballot

MARN 1576536 · Checked against Home Affairs on 8 November 2026

The ballot

You cannot apply for a MATES visa directly. First you register in the MATES ballot through ImmiAccount, and only people randomly selected are invited to apply. To register you need a valid Indian passport, a valid PAN card, an email address, and to be aged 18 to 30 inclusive at the start of the registration period; the registration fee is A$25. You can register from inside or outside Australia, but only once in each ballot, and Home Affairs runs the ballot once a year. A partner who is also eligible can register separately.

If you are selected, you receive a notification letter and have 30 days from the date of selection to lodge the visa application online. Applications after the date in the letter cannot be accepted.

Qualification and institution

This is where most people fall outside the scheme. At the visa stage you must have graduated within two years of the start of the ballot registration period:

• from an eligible institution: one of the top 100 on the Indian Ministry of Education's NIRF India Rankings Overall 2024 list, as named there by name and city or state. Affiliated colleges not on the list do not qualify;
• at bachelor level or above: a bachelor degree, honours or research bachelor, postgraduate diploma, masters or doctorate equivalent to the Australian Qualifications Framework level;
• in an eligible field: renewable energy, mining, engineering, information and communications technology, artificial intelligence, financial technology or agricultural technology.

English

You need a test taken in the year before you lodge (or before the decision, if you did not provide one when you lodged), with the score achieved in a single sitting unless the test is OET:

Funds and other requirements

You must be able to support yourself and any family who come with you. A job offer from an Australian business is one way to show it; without one, Home Affairs says you will usually need about A$5,000 for your initial stay. You and your family must also meet the health and character requirements, hold adequate health insurance for the whole stay, intend a genuine temporary stay, have no unpaid debt to the Australian Government, and have no previous MATES visa. Previous visa cancellations or refusals are considered too. Health examinations should wait until you have been invited to apply.

Family, cost and where to apply

You can include members of your family unit in the application; they do not count against the 3,000 places but must meet the health and character requirements, and each pays their own charge. The visa charge starts at A$470 for the main applicant. You must be outside Australia when you apply and when the visa is decided; family members can be in or outside Australia. Once granted, the visa starts on the day you first enter Australia, lets you do any kind of work and study, and allows unlimited travel in and out while it is valid.

After the two years

The visa cannot be extended and you cannot hold a second MATES visa, so anyone who wants to stay must move to a different visa before it ends and meet that visa's own criteria. The two years are a chance to build Australian work experience in your field, which can matter for employer sponsorship or a skilled visa later; whether a particular route will be open depends on your occupation, your skills assessment, your age and the rules at the time. The sponsorship guide and the points calculator are a starting point.

Check your eligibility before the ballot

A consultation checks your institution, qualification, field and English against the criteria before you register, and maps which visas could follow the two years in Australia.

Book a consultation — A$330 inc. GST, credited

General information only, current at 8 November 2026; not advice on your own case. Department of Home Affairs, Subclass 403 MATES stream, MATES ballot eligibility and the MATES landing page. Selection in the ballot is random and does not mean a visa will be granted. 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.