For the past two years at least educational programs have not been an effective way of immigration. If someone tells you that you can enrol yourself into a 2-year educational program in Sydney with a guaranteed Permanent Residency upon completion, do not believe them.

I often meet people who once relied on agents who sold them ‘study in Australia’ programs with no further strategy to stay. Imagine yourself spending 50k for studies and add the amount of money you would spend for rent and food during these two years. Your chances of staying in Australia are getting lower and lower each year. Let’s take accountants as an example – Australian jobs market is overfilled with this position and in order to get a job offer you would have to gain 100 points or more.

A student visa can be helpful for obtaining new knowledge, meeting new people and making useful contacts, getting to know Australian business better. But first of all I would suggest planning your trip based on your resume. 

And here are some tips for this:

• If you plan on studying in Australia choose a remote area/regional Australia. For this you will get extra 5 points to your future application and one extra year on a graduate visa.
• Look into Masters by research or PhD programs, especially if you plan on studying IT or engineering. For this you will get extra 10 points for your future application and a graduate visa with a longer stay.
• After your arrival, start searching for contacts in your professional field. If you are planning  to work in a different field it may have a negative effect on your professional experience.
• If you get into a relationship and choose to apply for a partner’s visa please keep in mind that your student visa will not be cancelled and you will have to continue with your studies. It takes up to three years to process a partner’s visa.
• If for any reason you cannot enroll into a university straight away you might consider beginning your studies in a college. Completing a college course will help you enroll into a university bachelor program. This will save you time as you will be studying in the university for 1.5 years and save around 10 000$ or more.
• If you plan on studying and the secondary applicant has a great working experience but doesn’t have a certificate or a diploma of studies,  you can check the Recognition of Prior Learning program. By the end of it you will get an australian certificate which can be used in your further migrating purposes
• If you are working in the same field as your studies are, think of taking a part-time job instead of a casual one, as the casual hours will not be considered at further stages of the immigration process.