student visa from Nepal
Everything on the subclass 500 from Nepal — the process, the money you must show, the genuine-student test, and where the MoEST NOC fits. Every figure here is dated and links to its official source.
Visa type: Subclass 500 — permits full-time study in a CRICOS-registered course.
Stay: generally up to 5 years, aligned to your course length. Eligible family members may be included.
Application fee: AUD 2,000, from 1 October 2025.
English floor for the visa: IELTS 6.0 — your course will often ask for more.
Funds to show: AUD 29,710/yr living, plus tuition and travel.
Processing: weeks to a few months — it varies with your provider's risk rating and how complete your file is.
The whole application is online — there is no physical embassy lodgement, and no step requires an agent.
Receive your eCoE
Accept your offer and pay the deposit; the CRICOS provider issues the electronic Confirmation of Enrolment. Nothing downstream can start without it.
Arrange OSHC for the full visa duration
Overseas Student Health Cover must span your entire stay, and is normally paid upfront as one lump sum before you lodge.
Create an ImmiAccount and lodge online
The subclass 500 is lodged through ImmiAccount from Nepal.
Write the Genuine Student statement
A structured written response to set questions, plus supporting evidence. This is the step that decides most applications — see section 04.
Attach financial and English evidence
Proof of funds in an acceptable, traceable form, held for the required period, and your accepted English test result.
Health examination and police clearance
With a Home Affairs–approved panel physician in Kathmandu, plus police clearance as required.
Biometrics if requested
Provided through the Australian Visa Application Centre process for Nepal.
Decision
Respond promptly to any request for further information. Outcomes turn on how complete and internally consistent the file is.
Distinct from your university application — this is the visa file. Several of these must exist before you lodge, which is why the order on the apply page matters.
eCoE
Electronic Confirmation of Enrolment from your provider.
Passport
Valid, and the visa attaches to it electronically.
GS statement
The Genuine Student written response and its evidence.
Financial evidence
Funds for the first 12 months, traceable and genuinely accessible.
English evidence
An accepted test result meeting at least the visa floor.
OSHC policy
Covering the full duration of your visa.
Health & police checks
Panel-physician examination and clearances as required.
Nepal NOC
The MoEST Foreign Study Approval Letter.
Academic documents
Transcripts and certificates, translated where needed.
The Genuine Student (GS) requirement replaced the old Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) test for applications lodged on or after 23 March 2024. It is a structured written statement responding to set questions — about your circumstances, your choice of course and provider, your ties, and your intentions — supported by evidence.
What it assesses: whether you are a Genuine Student — your circumstances, course and provider choice, ties, and intentions
Treat this as the heart of the application, not a formality. The assessment is looking for internal consistency: your course choice should follow from your academic history, your finances should match what you claim, and your stated plan after graduation should be coherent. Contradictions between your statement and your documents are what sink files — more often than any single weak element.
This is the requirement most often failing Nepali applicants. The quality and consistency of the statement and the financial evidence are decisive.
These are the documented reasons, not speculation. All three are within your control, which is the useful part.
Financial capacity not demonstrated — unclear, untraceable or insufficient funds
Failing the Genuine Student assessment — intent and credibility not established
Incomplete evidence — documents missing or inconsistent with each other
About 65% of Nepali higher-education student-visa applicants were refused in February 2026 — far above the roughly 85% overall approval rate. This reflects policy settings and scrutiny, not applicant quality, and it is the single most important fact to plan around.
What this should change about your approach: give the GS statement weeks, not an evening. Build your financial evidence months before you lodge, so the holding period is satisfied naturally rather than by a sudden deposit. And make sure every document tells the same story.
Officially the Foreign Study Approval Letter (अध्ययन अनुमति पत्र), issued by Nepal's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology through its Foreign Study Permit Branch. It is not optional and it is not merely bureaucratic — it gates both your money and your departure.
Applied for online at noc.moest.gov.np — the process has been fully online since 2024.
Fee: NPR 2,000, paid and receipted as part of the application.
Typically issued in 1–5 working days — faster for NEB, TU and KU graduates on the integrated system.
Valid for 6 months from issue. Apply after your offer and at least four weeks before any deadline.
Office location: Sanothimi, Bhaktapur
Nepali banks will not process your fee remittance, and immigration can stop you at Tribhuvan International Airport.
You will upload your offer letter, transcripts and certificates, citizenship, passport, financial and bank documents, the completed form, and the fee receipt. If your name differs across documents — a common issue — add a ward-office name-verification letter.
Nepal step — the full NOC walkthrough→Remittance is governed by Nepal Rastra Bank, and the limits move with each circular. Treat the mechanism below as solid and every dollar figure as provisional.
Education-expense remittance ceiling: USD 25,000 per purpose for tuition, affiliation and exam fees.
Annual living expenses: roughly USD 2,500–5,000 per year, with banks now able to provide up to ~5% extra to absorb exchange-rate movement.
Cash carried: broadly up to ~USD 500 in cash for living costs, with the rest through banking channels.