Proving Financial Capacity for a Subclass 500 Student Visa

A primary Subclass 500 student visa applicant must have genuine access to funds to meet the costs of their intended stay in Australia, including tuition, living costs, travel and — for any family members coming with them — their costs too. The living-cost component for a primary applicant was increased from AUD21,041 to AUD24,505 by the amending instrument LIN 23/070, which took effect in October 2023. That dollar figure is not written into the primary law. It is set by a legislative instrument that can be amended, so you should confirm the live amount in the current compilation of LIN 19/198 before you lodge.

This article sets out exactly where the requirement comes from in law, what the funds must cover, how much extra you need for a partner and children, which evidence is accepted, and what happens if your funds fall short. The aim is to let you work out — before lodging — whether your savings, income or sponsorship will actually satisfy the Subclass 500 student visa financial capacity requirement under the Migration Regulations 1994 and current legislative instruments.

There are two separate things to understand, and competitors routinely blur them. The requirement itself lives in clause 500.214 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994: an applicant will have genuine access to funds so that sufficient money is available to meet their own costs and expenses during their stay, and the costs of each member of their family unit who will be in Australia. That requirement does not change when the dollar amount changes.

The dollar amounts sit in a separate legislative instrument — LIN 19/198 — made under clause 500.214(4). In October 2023, an amending instrument (LIN 23/070) revised the living-cost figure for a primary applicant from AUD21,041 to AUD24,505, in line with Consumer Price Index increases from June 2019 to June 2023. Because the number lives in an instrument rather than in the regulation, it can be lifted again by a further amendment without any change to the underlying law.

A "compilation" is the up-to-date version of an instrument with every amendment already folded in. On the Federal Register of Legislation, search the instrument series LIN 19/198 (full title: Migration (LIN 19/198: Evidence of financial capacity—Subclass 500 Visa and Subclass 590 Visa) Instrument 2019). The register page shows which compilation is current — for example, compilation F2024C00445 took effect on 10 May 2024, and the instrument is listed to be repealed on 1 April 2030. Open the "Text" or "Latest version" view and read the living-cost amount in the body of that compilation. If a later compilation has replaced the one you know, the figure you quote from an older article may be out of date.

This is the single most common way applicants get the number wrong: they copy a figure that was correct a year ago and assume it still stands. The requirement in clause 500.214 never moves; the amount under it can.

Two pieces of jargon matter here, so here they are in plain terms. A Schedule 2 criterion is one of the conditions a visa applicant must satisfy for a particular subclass — Schedule 2 of the Migration Regulations 1994 lists the criteria for every visa, and the ones numbered 500.2xx are the primary criteria for the Subclass 500 visa. A legislative instrument is a rule made by the Minister under a power the regulations give them; it has legal force but can be amended or replaced far more easily than the regulations themselves.

Clause 500.214 works in layers. Subclause (1) requires the applicant to have genuine access to funds. Subclause (2) says that while the applicant holds the visa, sufficient funds will be available to meet their costs and the costs of each family unit member in Australia. Subclause (3) says that if the Minister asks, the applicant must give evidence of financial capacity that satisfies the requirements specified in an instrument made under subclause (4). That instrument is LIN 19/198. The same structure applies to secondary applicants (family members) under clause 500.313.

Having exactly AUD24,505 sitting in a bank account is not an automatic pass. The law does not require you to simply hold a number; it requires that the funds will genuinely be available to you to spend on your stay in Australia. "Genuine access" means the money is actually yours to use — not borrowed for a day to produce a statement, not locked away where you cannot draw on it, not someone else's balance shown to make up the figure.

The dollar amount is a floor: meet it and you clear one hurdle. It is not a pass mark: clearing it does not end the assessment, because the decision maker still has to be satisfied the access is genuine, and the application still has to satisfy the Genuine Student requirement. An applicant with the exact figure in an account can still be refused if the money is not genuinely theirs to use or if the broader genuineness test is not met.

Clause 500.214(2) frames what the funds are for: the costs and expenses of the applicant during their intended stay, and the costs and expenses of each family unit member who will be in Australia. In practice that breaks into tuition for the course, day-to-day living costs (the AUD24,505 figure is the living-cost component for a primary applicant), travel, and — where school-age children come too — their schooling.

The living-cost figure is not the whole picture. It is the amount set for ordinary living expenses; tuition and travel are additional costs the funds must also be able to meet, because the law requires the money to cover the applicant's costs during the stay. Your tuition figure is the fee your education provider charges for your specific course — confirm the current fee with your provider before you build it into your total.

If family members are coming with you, the instrument sets separate living-cost amounts on top of the primary applicant's figure. As amended in October 2023, the living-cost amount for a spouse or de facto partner is AUD8,574, and for each dependent child it is AUD3,670. These are living-cost components in the same sense as the primary figure — they sit alongside tuition, travel and (for school-age children) school costs.

A worked example, built only on the amounts the instrument states. Take a primary applicant bringing a partner and one dependent child aged four (too young for school). The living-cost side of the requirement adds up as: AUD24,505 for the applicant, plus AUD8,574 for the partner, plus AUD3,670 for the child — a living-cost total of AUD36,749. Tuition and travel are on top of that, and you must have genuine access to the full amount, not merely show it briefly.

For each school-age dependent child, the instrument sets an annual school-costs amount, raised to AUD9,661 in October 2023. This is separate from, and in addition to, the AUD3,670 living-cost amount for a dependent child — a school-age child attracts both.

Extend the earlier example by making the child seven rather than four. The living-cost side becomes AUD24,505 (applicant) + AUD8,574 (partner) + AUD3,670 (child living costs) + AUD9,661 (annual school costs) = AUD46,410, again before tuition and travel. Where the child is a school-age dependant staying more than three months, secondary criterion 500.315 also requires evidence that adequate arrangements have been made for the child's education in Australia.

The funds route is not the only way to satisfy the instrument. LIN 19/198 also sets an annual income figure that can be used instead. As amended in October 2023, the personal annual income required is AUD72,465 where there is no secondary applicant, and AUD84,543 where there is a secondary applicant. This is the income of the person supporting the application — commonly a parent or partner — shown for the 12 months before the application.

The two routes answer the same underlying requirement in clause 500.214 — genuine access to funds to meet the stay — in different ways: one by showing a pool of money, the other by showing an income stream large enough to support the applicant. Whichever you use, the genuineness of the access still has to hold up.

Where the Minister asks for it, you must provide documentary evidence of the applicant's financial capacity showing that the applicant meets the requirement. The broad categories the requirement is built around are funds held, income, and support such as loans, scholarships or sponsorship — and the regulation's touchstone throughout is that the access to those funds is genuine.

The precise documentary rules for each category — such as how a loan or scholarship must be evidenced — are set out on the Department's own financial-requirements guidance rather than in the regulation itself. Confirm the current document list and the rules for your evidence type on the Department of Home Affairs Student visa (subclass 500) page before you prepare your file: Department of Home Affairs — Student visa (subclass 500). For a fuller walk-through of preparing this evidence, see our guide to student visa financial requirements in Australia.

The regulation's requirement on this point is framed around genuineness rather than a fixed holding period: the applicant must have genuine access to the funds, and sufficient funds must be available while they hold the visa. That is why a last-minute deposit that briefly lifts a balance to the required figure is risky — the test is whether you genuinely have access to the money to meet your costs, not whether a statement shows a number on one day.

The specific documentary rules — including how recently funds must be available and how their source should be evidenced — are set out in the Department's financial-requirements guidance for the category of evidence you are using. Check the current rules for bank funds, loans, scholarships or sponsorship on the Department of Home Affairs website before relying on a particular arrangement.

The financial requirement does not sit on its own. Every Subclass 500 applicant must also satisfy the Genuine Student (GS) criterion — that they are a genuine applicant for entry and stay as a student. Direction No. 106 guides decision makers on how to assess that criterion, and it complements the 2024 changes to the student visa criteria.

Here is the part that is established, and the part that is not. Direction 106 identifies, among the matters a decision maker weighs, the economic circumstances of the applicant that would present a significant incentive to use a Subclass 500 visa as a means of entering Australia for purposes other than study. So finances are expressly relevant to the genuineness assessment. What is not fixed by a rule is any formula linking a particular financial position to a particular outcome — how your circumstances are weighed is a matter for the decision maker on the facts of your case. This is precisely why meeting the dollar floor does not guarantee a grant.

Keep three distinct things apart, because conflating them is a common and costly mistake.

The 2023 amount revision. LIN 23/070 revised and increased the financial-capacity amounts in LIN 19/198 in line with CPI increases from June 2019 to June 2023, taking effect in October 2023. This is the change that produced the AUD24,505 living-cost figure.

How the amount changes over time. The increase was made by an amending instrument, in line with CPI to a stated date — a CPI-based revision carried out through an amendment, under the general power to amend an instrument in the same way it was made. Read that as: the figure can be lifted again by a further amending instrument, which is why you re-check the live compilation each time, rather than assuming a fixed automatic annual step.

The 2 October 2026 rule changes. From 2 October 2026, new rules for Subclass 500 and Subclass 590 visas change who can apply for and be granted a visa while in Australia, and whether family members can be included. These are changes to onshore application eligibility and family inclusion — not a change to the financial-capacity amount itself. If you are planning around them, read our explainer on the 2026 onshore student visa rules and Subclass 500 exceptions.

If a decision maker is not satisfied the financial-capacity requirement is met, the application can be refused. Two paths may be open after that, and which applies depends on your circumstances.

Merits review. Administrative review of student visa refusal decisions is dealt with under the Migration Amendment (Administrative Review of Student Visa Refusal Decisions) Regulations 2026. Merits review means an independent body re-examines the decision on its merits. Whether a particular refusal is reviewable, the body that hears it and the time limit to apply depend on your case and the decision notice you receive — your refusal letter will state your review rights and the deadline, and that deadline is strict. Do not wait: read the review rights on your decision notice the day it arrives.

Reapplication. You may be able to lodge a fresh application once your evidence genuinely meets the requirement — for example, once funds are genuinely available to you or income can be evidenced at the required level. Before reapplying, fix the reason for the first refusal rather than simply resubmitting the same file, because the genuineness assessment will consider your immigration history.

If you are weighing review against a fresh application, our student visa service can help you work out which fits your situation and deadline.

This article is general information, not personal migration advice; confirm how the requirement applies to your own circumstances before you act. Global Migrations (Global Migration & Education Solutions, ABN 22 998 014 414) is a registered migration practice. For tailored advice, speak with our registered migration agent, Ranbir Singh (MARN 1069570), on +61 3 7043 2395 or at info@globalmigrations.com.au.