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| Evidence of Funds for Student Visa | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 4 2010, 03:37:24 PM (1,073 Views) | |
| FLgator79 | Feb 4 2010, 03:37:24 PM Post #1 |
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Piker
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Just wondering if there is anyone on here that has gone through the process of applying for a student visa from the US before that could help me with a question. I was accepted to a postgraduate program at a university in Sydney and will be looking to begin the process of applying for a student visa in the next month or so when I get my financial aid figured out. I am currently living in Florida so I will be applying from offshore. When reviewing a checklist of the required documentation for the student visa I noticed that it mentioned "declaring that you have the necessary amount funds to support your living expenses while in Australia". According to the immigration website, this amount has been increased to $18,000 AUD from $12,000 as of July 2009. However, since the USA is an assessment level 1 country I wasn't sure if you actually had to show that you had those funds available or if you just had to declare that you had access to them. I ended up calling the Australian embassy in DC and asked if it was necessary to actually demonstrate that you or a family member had that amount of funds available in a bank account, or if you just had to declare that you did. The woman I spoke to told me that yes, we did have to show some sort of evidence that we had those funds available, such as a bank statement. This worries me because the loans that I am taking out will not be anywhere near this amount, as they will only cover my course fees and some living expenses. I am going back there to be with my partner in Sydney (long story, I'll leave that for another thread  ) He is willing and able to provide a good portion of my financial support, so rent is not as much of a concern for me in this respect, and hopefully I will be able to get some part-time work for any extra expenses I may need.Anyway, is there anyone here whom has actually gone through the student visa application process (subclass 573) from outside the country before that actually had to show evidence of funds? To me it seems that $18,000 AUD is a huge amount of money to show in addition to course fees unless you have a lot of money saved up beforehand  . The website and the embassy are giving me conflicting answers on this one!
Edited by FLgator79, Feb 5 2010, 01:31:24 AM.
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| gpierce | Feb 4 2010, 04:05:11 PM Post #2 |
True Blue Mate
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I have never applied for a student visa before, but with all the visas I have been involved in, yes they want to check your funds. They want to make sure you can support yourself as you will be able to only work a limited amount of hours if at all. You can probably show funds/job info from the person you will be staying with to evidence the ability to support yourself. |
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| blarg | Feb 4 2010, 04:33:09 PM Post #3 |
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True Blue Mate
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Could your partner provide an assurance of support if they question it? You might want to call the embassy again and ask how your partner and his/her family fit into all of this. They just want to make sure that you're not going to end up destitute on the street forced to go into slave labour. :-) I couldn't show $18,000 in my account at the moment. That's for sure. |
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| Samantha | Feb 4 2010, 06:30:42 PM Post #4 |
True Blue Mate
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Now here's a question that can bring me out of the wood work. I am a MA student at Flinders in Adelaide and am about to go into my second year of school, I went through all this last year. I know how frustrating it is to get the financials sorted. I am going through it again and when it's all said and done it's just a waiting game. Remember your power, your Australian peers in class will likely be paying a quarter of the tuition you are and at that not out of their pockets. Australian universities and the government as a whole want your money...all of this can be turned in your favour. Did you school offer you a COE letter yet? They should and that should prove your financial stability to any official you might speak with when entering Australia or applying for the visa. In fact if I am not mistaken you need the COE to get started on the electronic portion of the student visa. On it should say that your intended form of funding is student loans via the American government. Really, once they see that there will be no more questions. Please stop worrying and try your best to move on with the visa application as normal---just as I did. I am not going to say that the woman at the embassy is wrong persay but frankly she probably felt a duty to tell you the worst case scenario. Absolutely no one in my family or friends has 18k in their bank account and I think the government already knows that for a vast majority of foreign students (though you may soon realise that universities look at you with dollar signs because you're foreign) don't have that sort of resource. Hope this helps, Samantha ps. If you're getting Stafford Grad loans that's 20K USD, proven source of income right there, no worries! Edited by Samantha, Feb 4 2010, 06:32:46 PM.
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| FLgator79 | Feb 5 2010, 02:36:04 AM Post #5 |
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Piker
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Thanks for the advice Samantha. Yeah I am taking out a Stafford loan to pay the course fees so hopefully once I get that worked out with the uni I should get my CoE and begin the online application process. The woman at the embassy didn't seem to be too sure of what she was telling me (she had to put me on hold and go ask someone) so I just thought it would be worth it to see if anyone here had actually gone through the process before. $18,000 seems to be an awful lot of money to show IN ADDITION to course fees so it worried me a bit but now after hearing that from you it gives me a little bit more confidence to go ahead and start the process 
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6:23 PM May 19