Student visa applicants from the People抯 Republic of China, applying outside Australia 

From 1 March 2002, nationals of the People抯 Republic of China (PRC) who are normally resident in the PRC, and who are applying outside Australia for a student visa, will be required to lodge their application by mail to the following Adelaide post box address:  

Offshore Processing Centre 

Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs 

GPO Box 1393  

Adelaide SA 5001 

Australia  

These arrangements do not apply to other, non-PRC nationals applying in the PRC, PRC nationals normally resident in Hong Kong or Macau, or PRC nationals normally resident outside the PRC. 

PRC students already studying in Australia may continue to apply for a further student visa at a State or Territory DIMIA office. From 28 January 2002, PRC students in Australia will also be able to apply for a further student visa over the Internet on this website. 

The purpose of this new arrangement is to manage the increasing number of student applications from the PRC and to reduce overall processing times. 

Applications for a student visa lodged by PRC nationals at an Australian mission in the PRC will not be accepted from 1 March 2002.  

Applications lodged by mail in Adelaide will be forwarded to Beijing by secure diplomatic bag after some initial processing. 

Applicants will not be required to forward any additional documentation to the Adelaide office after lodging their application. Should further documentation be required, this will be requested by the Australian Embassy in Beijing. 

The majority of applications will continue to be decided by the Australian Embassy, Beijing. 

As part of this new process, and in order to reduce processing times as much as possible, applicants may be invited to undertake health examinations prior to pre-visa assessment (PVA), in order to streamline processing. 

Requests to undertake medicals may not, therefore, be an indication that an applicant has met PVA. Students who undertake health examinations prior to approval should note that there will be no refund of the medical examination fee should the application be refused. 

Students who prefer to wait until PVA has been completed will be able to continue to do so.