Australia, subclass 485
Australia's 485 Graduate Visa: Stay and Work After Your Degree
Two to three years of unrestricted work rights for graduates of Australian universities, and in 2026 a much bigger bill than you were quoted.
Finish a degree at an Australian university and you can stay on and work full time, for any employer, with no sponsor and no job offer. The price of admission is two academic years you have already paid for, and a fee that tripled in 2026.
Temporary Graduate Visa (subclass 485)
Allows recent graduates to live, study, and work in Australia temporarily.
- Government cost
- $1,895
- Processing time
- ~30 days
- Timeline
- 18 months to 4 years (depending on qualification)
- Difficulty
- Easy
Key requirements
- Recent graduate of an Australian institution
- Health and character checks
- English proficiency
About that data card
The government cost above is the one number here you should not trust. The 485 fee was 1,895 Australian dollars before 2024. It hit 4,600 in March 2026 and 5,750 in July 2026, so the real charge is about $4,110. The 30 day figure is optimistic: half of degree applications are decided in roughly two months; nine in ten may take up to four.
Three doors
Which 485 you get depends on your degree
There is no single 485. There are three streams: the one you qualify for sets how long you stay, and you cannot switch after lodging.
Post-Higher Education Work
The degree stream, covering bachelor's degrees, master's degrees and doctorates from a CRICOS registered institution. A bachelor's or a master's by coursework gets 2 years, a master's by research or a doctorate gets 3. The best part is what is missing. No occupation list, no skills assessment, so your field doesn't have to match anything.
Post-Vocational Education Work
Associate degrees, diplomas and trades. Eighteen months, and it has strings: a skills assessment, and your occupation on the skilled list.
Second Post-Higher Education Work
Study and live in a designated regional area for two years and you can apply again for 1 extra year (Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart) or 2 (Cairns, Townsville, Darwin). A fresh application, at a much lower fee.
- Graduate certificates no longer count on their own
- A graduate diploma only counts if it followed straight on from your degree
- Hong Kong and British National Overseas passports get 5 years
The four numbers that decide this
$4,110
Government fee, main applicant
Australia charges 5,750 Australian dollars
35
Age cap on the day you lodge
was 50 until July 2024
6 months
From course completion to lodging
miss it and the application is invalid
2 to 3 years
What a degree buys you
18 months on a trade qualification
Before you can apply
What you have to have already done
You don't plan for the 485. You qualify for it, or not, based on choices you made when you enrolled.
Two academic years, counted Australia's way
At least 92 CRICOS registered weeks over a minimum of 16 calendar months, in Australia, on a student visa. That's your course's registered length, not how many weeks you showed up, and credit for study you did back home can quietly push you under it.
A clock that starts before graduation
Six months from your course completion date, the date on your registrar's letter, not your ceremony and not when final marks land. Those can sit months apart. Lodge late and the application is invalid, with no refund.
In the country, insured and checked
You must be physically in Australia when you lodge, with a federal police check applied for beforehand and a health exam. Insurance changes too: student cover dies with your student visa, so switch to Overseas Visitor Health Cover first, with no gap.
Your passport skips the hardest new hurdle
The English test is where a lot of 485 applications die. The bar is IELTS 6.5 overall with nothing under 5.5 in any band, from a single in-person sitting, valid for only 12 months. At-home tests are refused outright. Here's the catch that trips people up: finishing a degree taught in English in Australia exempts nobody. A passport does. A valid U.S. passport means no English test at all. The same goes for the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland.
The honest part
What nobody selling you a degree mentions
The 485 is a good visa. Getting into a position to hold one is the expensive bit.
You pay for the runway first. It only exists for people who already spent two academic years and international tuition at an Australian university, on top of the roughly $21,200 in living costs a student visa asks you to show. It's the payoff, not a cheap way in.
The age cap moved a long way. It was 50 until July 2024 and is 35 now, measured on the day Home Affairs receives your application. That quietly closed the door on doing a master's at 40 and staying. Research master's and doctoral graduates can still apply under 50.
No Medicare. The U.S. has no reciprocal health care agreement with Australia, so private cover is a visa condition for the whole stay.
No looping back into study. Since July 2024, a 485 holder can't lodge a student visa from inside Australia. You have to leave and apply from outside. A Grattan Institute study found one in three international graduates went straight back into study to stretch their stay.
And the clock runs out. The 485 turns into nothing. Two or three years in, you either have a permanent visa or you go home.
What the visa actually lets you do
Any job, any employer
Full time, no hour limits, no sponsor, change jobs whenever you like.
No occupation list
On the degree stream your field does not have to match a government list.
Keep working while you wait
A Bridging Visa A carries your work rights until a decision lands.
Bring your partner
A partner and dependent children can come, at an extra charge each.
Come and go
Travel in and out as often as you like while it is valid.
Study on the side
You can take courses, but they will not earn you another graduate visa.
Where it leads
The 485 is a bridge, and the bridge is the whole point
The 485 doesn't lead to permanent residency on its own. It puts you inside Australia with full work rights while you build the case for something that does. That matters more than it sounds.
Being onshore is worth real money. Ministerial Direction 119 sorts skilled applications into five priority tiers, and applying from overseas in a non-priority occupation puts you in the bottom one. Onshore sits a tier above. The 2026-27 program also reserves 129,590 of its 185,000 places for people already in the country, against 55,110 offshore.
Australian work experience scores points. One year of skilled work here is worth 5 points on the test behind the Skilled Independent 189, three years is worth 10, and a Professional Year in accounting, IT or engineering adds 5 more.
Or let an employer do it. Many graduates never touch the points test. They find a sponsor, move onto the Skills in Demand 482, then convert it through the Employer Nomination Scheme 186 after two years. Either way, start early. Two years goes fast when a skills assessment can eat three months.
Questions Americans actually ask
How much does the 485 visa cost in 2026?
About $4,110 for the main applicant, which Home Affairs bills as 5,750 Australian dollars from 1 July 2026. Add roughly $2,060 for a partner and $1,040 per child. Those use a rate of about 71 US cents to the Australian dollar in September 2026, so run it again on the day you pay, and budget separately for insurance, police checks and a health exam.
I am 36. Is there any way around the age limit?
Only if your qualifying degree is a master's by research or a doctorate, which lets you apply up to age 49. Hong Kong and British National Overseas passport holders get the same allowance. Otherwise 35 is hard, measured on the day the department receives your application. If you are close, lodge the moment your completion letter arrives.
Do I need to take IELTS if I have a US passport?
No. A valid US passport is a full exemption, as are UK, Canadian, New Zealand and Irish passports. Everyone else needs IELTS 6.5 overall with no band below 5.5, from an in-person sitting within the last 12 months. Worth knowing: studying in English in Australia exempts nobody. Only the passport does.
Can I get Medicare on a 485?
No. Australia has reciprocal health care agreements with 11 countries and the United States is not one, so there is no Medicare on a 485 or the bridging visa before it. You must hold Overseas Visitor Health Cover throughout, and student cover stops counting once your student visa ends. A gap can get the visa cancelled.
How long does it take to get decided?
Home Affairs figures put about half of degree stream applications at roughly two months and nine in ten inside four months. Some wait longer, especially December to March when everyone graduates at once. You are not stuck: a Bridging Visa A lets you keep working. If you need to leave Australia, get a Bridging Visa B first or the bridging visa is gone.
Does the 485 lead to permanent residency?
Not by itself. It buys two or three years of full work rights to build a case for a permanent visa, usually the points-tested 189 or 190, or sponsorship through the 482 and then the 186. Australian work experience earns points, and being onshore puts you in a higher processing tier than applying from the States. Start in your first year, not your last.
Not sure Australia is the right bet?
The Expatsi Test matches you to countries and visa routes that fit your age, your money and your field.