Life in Australia

International students and working holiday visa holders have recently been given a special offer by Australian Government regarding the visa application fee refund.

It was announced by the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison on 19th January 2022 that student visa holders arriving in the next 8 weeks and working holiday visa holders arriving in the next 12 weeks will be able to apply for a visa application charges refund.

So, in this article, we are going to look into step by step information on how to apply for this refund.

Step 1 – Check your eligiblity

It is important to note that not all student visa holders and working holiday visa holder will be eligible. There are some eligibility requirements that you must meet in order to apply for this refund.

Let’s look at Student Visa Holders eligiblity:

To eligible for a student visa fee refund:

• you hold a valid Student visa (subclasses 500, 560, 570, 571, 572, 573, 574 or 575), and
• you must arrive in Australia between 19th January 2022 and 19th March 2022

Now, Working holiday visa holders

Elgibility for working holiday visa holder include:

• you hold a valid Working Holiday/Work and Holiday visa (subclasses 417 or 462), and
• you must arrive in Australia between 19th January 2022 and 19th April 2022

The good thing is you can apply until 31st December 2022 for your refund, so you don’t need to rush to apply it right away after arriving in Australia.

Step 2 – Collect your documents you need to apply

In order to apply for this refund, you must have few documents handy. This include

• Passport – For your personal details and passport number
• TRN (Transaction reference number) – For confirmation of your visa. You can find this number in your visa grant letter or in immii account, if you applied visa online.
• Bank Account or Credit Card details – For getting your refund back into your account

A quick tip for getting your refund quicker:

Provide your Australian Bank account rather than overseas bank account

Step 3 – Creating an account on immigration refund portal

For applying for this refund, you need to go to Department of Home Affairs’s Visa Refund Portal. You can go directly to the page for student and working holiday visa holder’s visa application charges here: https://studentandwhmrefunds.homeaffairs.gov.au/vrp

Here you can check further information on

• your eligibility
• how to claim
• other useful information
• getting help

You will need to create a new account here (unless you already have an account for refunds). For this, you will need to provide the following information:

• Email account
• Password
• First Name
• Last Name
• Password
• Agreement to privacy policy and security statement

Once your account is created, then you will get a confirmation email for your registration. Make sure to validate your email using the link in email.

Then you will redirected to login using your email and password.

Step 4 – Complete your refund application

Once logged into your dashboard, you will be welcome with a screen title “Visa application charge refunds for students and working holiday makers”. Read the page and go to the bottom and click “Submit New Request”

After clicking submit new request, you will enter the “Visa Request Refund” page where you will need to provide the followin details and press submit after that:

• TRN
• Application ID
• Visa Subclass
• Entry Date
• Given Name
• Family Name
• Date of Birth
• Passport Number
• Passport Country
• Email address
• Contact Number
• Did you pay for your own visa
• Bank account details
• Agreement to terms and conditions

Step 5 – After submitting your refund application

After completing and submitting your application, you will recieve a confirmation email regarding your application recieved from the Department of Home Affairs.

Then you will need to wait for the outcome of the application.

Department of Home Affiars mentioned that they will process the refund as quickly as they can but it can vary based on the individual applications.

If your application is approved then you will recieve the refund back into your nominated back account.

However, if they refuse your application, then you can apply for a review within 21 days of a refusal.

You can read more about this here.

If you liked this content, then you might also want to read on 10 best casual jobs for student in Australia here.

We all know that Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love. It is not just an American thing. It is celebrated in many countries, including Australia.

If you are wondering why and how you should celebrate Valentine’s Day in Australia as a student, then read on!

What is Valentine’s day?

Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14th. It is a day for people to express their love to their loved ones. In 2022, it will be celebrated on Monday 14th, 2022

This date has tradition behind it and is celebrated to remember the St. Valentine’s.

The Origins of the Australian Valentine’s Celebration

The origins of Valentine’s Day in Australia is not very clear. It believed to started in the 19th century by the Irish Catholic settlers.

Although, it is not a public holiday in Australia, there are chances that some businesses might be closed on the day.

It is a summer season during the month of February, so the temperature ranges from warm to hot.

How it is celebrated in Australia?

Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Australia with romantic dinners, cards, kisses and flowers.

There are many ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Australia. Australians usually celebrate it with romantic dinners, cards, kisses and flowers. You can also give your special someone a Valentine’s Day gift.

If you are struggling with what to get for your loved one, here are some ideas that might help

Gift ideas for Valentine’s Day in Australia

What are some of the best gifts you can get on Valentine’s Day? Well, it really depends on your budget and the person you are buying for. But if you are looking for some ideas, here are a few suggestions that might help.

Gift Ideas on budget:

If you are looking for some last-minute gifts, then this list of Valentine’s Day gifts under $30 is perfect for you!

• A bouquet of flowers: Send flowers to your loved one on Valentine’s Day. Roses, tulips, lilies or any other flower would be a lovely gesture of love on this special day.
• A box of chocolates: Chocolate is always a good idea as a Valentine’s Day gift. You can buy chocolate in bulk from supermarkets or make your own chocolate at home
• A teddy bear with a card attached: Who doesn’t love a cute teddy bear! Specially on a day like Valentine’s. Don’t forget to add a card with your personalised message with it.
• A handmade bracelet with your initials engraved on it: You don’t need to break a bank in order to create something for your loved one. You can be creative and make a handmade bracelets for them.

Gift Ideas for those who would like to do something special:

• A romantic dinner date at a 4-star restaurant: Book and dine a luxury dinner date with your valentine.
• A romantic weekend getaway: Surprise your love one by booking a romantic escape around Australia.
• Expensive jewelry: Create a personalized necklace with their name on it.

5 International student’s valentine day gift ideas

1. Buy OSA ISIC card – Perfect for international students. Your valentine will love you for buying a year around offers and discounts they get with this card. Buy it here.
2. Cryptocurrency for love – Be different and share the love by sending some crypto currency for you loved ones. Coinspot has a special offer this Valentine’s Day. If you sign up using this link, you will get $20 worth of Bitcoin as a bonus after first deposit. (not a financial advice by the way, DYOR)
3. Buy Timezone credits – Entertain your valentine by buying a gift to play arcade video games, laser games, bowling. They have special deal on 12th and 13th February to get double credits. Buy $50 or $100 credits and get $100 or $200 credits. (Double the fun) Check the details here.
4. Maskco -Try the most unique and exotic Australian fragrances. We promise your valentine will love it. It’s that good. (Make sure to get Lychee and Peony as one of the fragrances). They have free gift worth $34.50 this weekend for the orders about $65. Buy them here.
5. Gift card – Last but not the least, the easiest, laziest and a safe gift, get your Valentine a gift card. You can buy them at any retailer or online. If buying online, we suggest getting from Shopback as they have a Super Swap gift card that can be exchanged for 100’s of retailers. Sign up now to get $10 referral bonus to start.

Valentine’s Day date ideas in Australia

Here are some Valentine’s Day date ideas that can help you impress your date and create a memorable experience:

• A picnic in the park: This one is a classic and can be fun and romantic. You just need to pack some food and drinks, pick a nice location in the park, and enjoy each other’s company with nature all around you.
• Cooking together: This may require more effort than other date ideas but it is worth it! Cooking together will allow you to get to know your date better while having fun in the process.
• Watching a romantic movie together: You can go out to watch a latest flick in the cinema or stay at home and watch it together at the comfort of your place.

Tips for Loving Long Distance this Valentine’s Day

These are some of the best long distance relationship tips that you can follow for this Valentine’s Day.

1. Be honest with your partner about how you feel
2. Make sure to keep in touch with your partner as often as possible
3. Keep the romance alive by sending gifts and cards to each other

We hope this article has helped you find your way to the perfect Valentines Day. Let us know how would you like to celebrate Valentine’s Day in the comments.

Australia Day is celebrated on 26th January each year.

Its historical background dates back to 1788 as a commemoration of the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 British convict ships at Port Jackson NSW.

Now a days, it is celebrated as a day where we reflect on the history, its highs and its lows.

There is a campaign to change the date to another day in the year as it is marked as an Invasion Day for the aboriginal culture in Australia.

While we don’t know when and if this will happen, here are some ways you can celebrate this public holiday with your friends and family.

1. Go to beach

Australians love going to the beach and one of the favourite activity for many Australians is heading toward the beach to catch some cool waves and enjoy with friends on Australia Day.

2. Have a Barbie

Invite some friends over and organise a typical Australian style BBQ or barbecue. If you are vegan or vegetarian, you can also enjoy a meat-free BBQ as well. You can head to a local park or do it in your own backyard. Want to know some BBQ etiquette? Check our popular article on that here.

3. Play cricket

Summer means Cricket in Australia. Even if you are not familiar with this sport, you can join to play it with locals and they will be happy to explain the rules. Don’t be shy in asking to join if you see locals playing it. Common places to play includes beach, backyard & local parks on the day.

4. Try Aussie treats

Have you heard about Pavalova, Lamingtons, Vanilla slice, TimTams? No! Try them out. Treat yourself to some Aussie deserts. And if you are person, who like to stay indoors, then catching up on some Aussie flicks like The Castle, Mad Mex, Crocodile Dundee and Muriel’s Wedding is a must.

5. Buy the merchandise

You can buy plenty of True Blue merchandise from local businesses. You can even head to local supermarket to pick some merchandise as well. Want to go extreme with it? Get your face tattooed and show your support for the day.

6. Attend local activities

Some local governments organise activities like morning breakfast, concert, local tour and parties. Check the local council website to see what’s happening in you local area.

7. See fireworks

Local governments also organise fireworks for the residents during the evening on Australia Day. Check your local state or territories planned fireworks and make bookings, if required. Keep in mind, there are different restrictions at the moment in many states and territories.

So, how are you planning to celebrate Australia Day?

Since the news arrived that Australia could be starting the international travel before the end of the year, everyone is talking about vaccine passports.

So in this article, we are going to cover everything we know so far about these vaccination passports and how they might work in Australia.

What is a Vaccine Passport?

Vaccine passport is basically a proof that you have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with approved vaccinations.

You can carry around this vaccine passport with you and if required you can show it around to the places you might visit that could include your workplace, a restaurant, a gym, a bar or could be when catching a flight

From October onwards Australian government will be rolling out these vaccination passports in Australia.

It will be available both in a digital format and in a physical printed format as well.

Benefits of Vaccine Passport

• Traveling without restrictions: One of the benefit is traveling without much restrictions. At the moment if you are coming to Australia you need to do a 2 week hotel quarantine which obviously is done in order to control the spread of COVID-19. So those quarantine arrangements could change with vaccine passports as there might be an option for home quarantining instead of doing it in a hotel.
• Visiting local venues: If you have been issued a vaccine passport you could visit different places like pubs restaurants bars and obviously
• Work related travel: Vaccinated people will be able to travel around easily for work purposes.

Concerns of Vaccine Passport

• Discrimination: One of the biggest concern is regarding discrimination especially against the people who are not vaccinated yet. Unvaccinated people might feel that they are getting discriminated because they can’t visit some of these premises or businesses.
• Privacy: People feel that they will have to show these vaccine passport every place they visit that intrudes into their privacy
• Scams: Lots of scammers are obviously watching out this as an opportunity to make money and to scam people.

How will they work in Australia?

To understand how these vaccines passports might work in Australia, we will divide this section into 2 parts:

• For local travel and life in Australia
• For international travel

For local travel and life in Australia

Australia is considering the use of vaccine passports within Australia.

New south wales government will be the first in the country to trial the vaccination passports especially when visiting local venues like bars, restaurants and pubs.

The trial will run for a couple of weeks in October and if it’s successful more freedoms will be given to the people who are already vaccinated and could be rolled out to other parts of Australia.

For international Travel

At the moment Australian government is in talk with other countries to work out which vaccines will be recognised for international travel once they start opening up their borders.

Obviously, there are lots of vaccinations available at the moment against COVID-19 and some of these ones are already been recognised and approved for use in Australia.

There is no official update on which vaccines will be approved apart from the ones that are already been approved in Australia

The TGA has approved 3 vaccines for use in Australia:

1. Pfizer
2. AstraZeneca
3. Moderna

Australia is also trialling a home quarantine system as well this is being trialled at the moment in South Australia and if successful, this could be implemented for local and international traveller in Australia.

There is a lot of talk about opening up their international borders and allowing some international travel with countries like UK, USA, Canada, Singapore, European countries and Fiji before the end of the year.

With vaccine passports, Australians could soon be able to travel overseas and Australians who are stuck overseas can come in larger numbers.

What does this means for international students?

Although the introduction of vaccine passports might be a great news for international travel especially for Australians but it obviously brings us hope that there is a possibility that international students and other visa holders could start coming back to Australia.

Tourism minister Dan Tehan has mentioned that once Australia reached that 70 and 80 percent vaccination rate, Australians will be able to travel overseas again and Australians will be able to return home in larger numbers and he also added that “We will also be able to start welcoming international students and those who want to come to work and ultimately tourists as well”.

With more Australian coming back home quicker and doing home quarantine will also free up space for quarantine facilities for other economic visa holders like international students as well.

When is Australia officially opening its border for international students?

It is important to remember at the moment there are no fixed dates for international travel in Australia as yet.

And as soon as we hear any update we’ll make sure we keep you posted with that so make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and our email newsletter.

Covid-19 has brought many challenges in our lives. But for some people it has brought opportunities as well. One of those groups are scammers.

The scam artists are using various techniques to take advantage of various vulnerable people in Australia.

As per ACCC, more than 6100 scams has been reported with more than $8,400,000 lost since the outbreak of Covid-19 (coronavirus).

So in this article, we are going to give you a information on some common international students scams in Australia and how to avoid them.

Types of International Students Scams in Australia

Thes are some of the common types of scams that international students could face in Australia:

• Covid-19 vaccination scams – Some scammers are calling people and asking them to pay money if they want to get the vaccination ahead of other people.
• Getting a transcript from Australian university – Some people who pretended to be an education agent promise students they can get them an Australian transcript from an Australian university.
• Offering huge university scholarships – Some pretending agents also get students to pay them in exchange for getting a extra university discounts.
• Offering amazing discount on accommodation – Similar story like university scholarship, students get offers for unbelievable accommodation rates in exchange of money.
• Promise to book ticket – While borders remain closed to foreigners, some scammers ask students to pay them to book a flight to Australia.
• Fake property scams – It does happen on gumtree and some other real estate websites where property shown on the websites either does not exist or look significantly different than advertised.
• Asking for payment of Taxes – Some group of scammers pretending to be an ATO (Australian Taxation Office) calling people in Australia to pay the taxes to them.
• Fake jobs offers – Offering jobs to international students after paying for a course or promise to get a job after payment to these scammers.
• Virtual Kidnapping – Some students from Chinese backgrounds were targeted in this scam where they were asked to kidnap themselves in exchange of ransom from their parents. Pretty bizarre but real scam.

Most of these scammer will try to use threats, make your fearful and then ask you for either money or personal details which can be used for scams by these people.

How to do avoid getting scammed

Calls related scams

If you are getting calls from the scammers, then we suggest you take the following actions:

• Disconnect the call. Avoid calls if they call back
• Do not give any personal or sensitive information
• Check with Scamwatch website. You can check different types of scams going in Australia
• Check with organisation/business directly by calling them

We also suggest you register your number with Do not call register. Registering your number can help to reduce the number of unsolicited marketing calls from Australian businesses.

Although, please be mindful that scammers can still try to reach out to you as some of them could be based overseas.

Emails related scams

If you are getting emails for

• Don’t click on hyperlinks in the suspected emails
• Don’t reply back to these emails
• Always check the email address of the sender.
• Contact the business directly via email or call
• Go to the website through the browser rather than link from a website

Agency related scams

Some pretending agents will lure international students for scams as well. You can avoid them by:

• Doing a proper research
• Confirm with at least 2 to 3 other agents in your area
• Contacting university college directly
• Contacting Department of Home Affiars
• Searching on migration agent details on Mara Website

You can lodge a complaint against a migration agent on Mara website

We hope you find this information useful and if this can help someone else avoid getting scammed then please share this article with them.

You can also watch a video on this on our YouTube Channel

Australia’s biggest sales day is here.

The Boxing Day.

Like Black Friday Deals, we are giving you a quick guide on what is Boxing Day and our Top 10 Boxing Day Deals you might want to snap.

What is Boxing Day in Australia?

First of all, let’s be clear, Boxing Day does not mean something like this:

It is actually celebrated on a day after Christmas Day, 26th December each year in Australia and across many other countries around the world.

The tradition came in around 1800s when wealthy people started giving their servants a day off after Christmas Day and a boxed gifts (usually leftovers from Christmas Day).

And hence, a Boxing Day. (See the connection, Boxing = Boxes 🙂

While that tradition has long gone, now a days, it is a public holiday in Australia and is one of the biggest sales event of the year.

In 2020, it is expected that shoppers will spend around $2.75 billion on a Boxing Day.

Boxing Day is also famous for a cricket test match between Australian cricket team & a visiting nation team and a Sydney Hobart yatch race.

Here are our top 10 Boxing Day Deals for 2020

So here are our hand picked deals for you for Boxing Day 2020 (prices in AUD):

1. Google Pixel 4a with 5G for $658 at Amazon
2. Realme 6 for $319.20 at Amazon
3. Apple iPhone XR for $699 at JB Hi-Fi
4. GoPro Hero 8 Black for $364.19 + shipping at Amazon
5. Samsung Galaxy S20+ 128GB Smartphone $969 Delivered at Amazon
6. EKO 65-inch UHD Android TV with Google Assistant for $649 at Big W
7. Lenovo Tab E10 10″ Tablet for $97 at Amazon
8. Fitbit charge 4 for $149 (was $250) at Amazon
9. 60% off shoes and accessories at Adidas eBay store
10. Apple AirPods with Charging Case (2nd gen) for $199 at Catch (Don’t forget to get 10% further off with discount code for students from here).

You can also check other fashion, tech, travel related deals on our student deals page as well.

List of Top Boxing Day Sales Retailers in Australia

• Amazon
• Big W
• Bing Lee
• Catch
• David Jones
• eBay
• JB Hi-fi
• Harvey Norman
• Myer
• Officeworks
• Target
• The Good Guys

DISCLAIMER: This list may contain links from our affiliates like Amazon and others, sponsors, and partners. If you use these products, we will get compensated – but there’s no additional cost to you.