Finished study on the Gold Coast? BYD’s registered agents help Griffith and Bond graduates apply for the 485 Temporary Graduate visa. Call 07 3073 1524.
The Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) lets international students who’ve finished an eligible qualification stay in Australia to live and work after they graduate. If you’ve just wrapped up a degree at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus, at Bond University in Robina, or at one of the Coast’s colleges, the 485 is usually the visa that keeps you here while you turn study into work experience, and for many people, into a longer-term migration plan.
BYD’s registered migration agents prepare 485 applications for Gold Coast graduates in person or online. Our office is at Eight Mile Plains, a short drive up the M1 from Southport and Robina, but plenty of graduates handle the whole thing with us over video. Here’s how the visa works.
The 485 is a temporary visa for recent graduates of Australian courses. It lets you work in Australia without an employer sponsor for a set period, which is your chance to build local experience, sit any professional exams your field needs, and set up the points and skills assessment for a permanent visa later. It has different streams depending on your qualification and field, and the length of stay depends on which stream you qualify for and what you studied.
Because the streams, eligible-qualification rules and stay periods have changed more than once in recent years, we’ll confirm the current settings against your specific course and graduation date rather than rely on an old rule of thumb.
To be eligible for the 485, you generally need to:
Hold or have recently held a student visa.
Have completed an eligible qualification from a registered Australian institution, meeting the Australian study requirement.
Apply within a set time of finishing your course.
Be under the age limit that applies to your stream.
Meet English, health and character requirements, and hold suitable health insurance.
The timing is the part graduates trip over most. There’s a window after you finish your course to lodge, and if you miss it the visa is off the table. If you’re a Griffith or Bond graduate weighing up your options, don’t let the clock run down while you decide.
The Coast has two strong universities and a cluster of colleges, so there’s a steady flow of graduates each semester in fields that feed local industry: health and allied health, business and hospitality management, IT, and the trades. That matters because the 485 is rarely the end goal. It’s the bridge to skilled or employer-sponsored migration, and the local job market decides how well that bridge holds.
We plan the 485 with the next step already in view. A graduate in a health or construction field on the Coast may be lining up for skilled migration or employer sponsorship, and the choices you make on the 485 now, which occupation you build experience in, when you sit your English test, whether you do a skills assessment early, can make the later application far stronger.
The 485 buys you time and work rights, but it doesn’t lead to permanent residency on its own. What it does is let you gather the ingredients: skilled work experience, a positive skills assessment, a better English score, and in some cases regional points, since parts of the Gold Coast sit inside a designated regional area. From there the pathway is usually skilled migration through the 189, 190 or 491, or employer sponsorship if a Coast employer wants to keep you. Because we do both education and migration, we can plan that whole arc with you.
We confirm your eligibility and the right stream for your qualification and course.
We make sure you lodge inside the application window, so you don’t lose the visa on timing.
We prepare your evidence, English results and health insurance correctly the first time.
We line the 485 up with your longer plan, whether that’s skilled migration or employer sponsorship.
We work with you in person at Eight Mile Plains or entirely online, around your job and study schedule.
For the full detail, see our main Temporary Graduate Visa (485) page, and our Migration Agent Gold Coast hub for how we serve the region.
No. Our only office is at Garden City Office Park in Eight Mile Plains, on Brisbane’s south side, a straight run up the M1 from Griffith’s Gold Coast campus and Bond in Robina. Many graduates come in for the first meeting, and just as many do the whole 485 online with us. You get the same registered agent either way.
An eligible qualification from a registered Australian institution that meets the Australian study requirement. Degrees from Griffith and Bond generally qualify, as do many college courses, but the stream and stay period depend on the specifics. We’ll check your course and graduation date.
It depends on your stream and qualification, and the rules have changed in recent years. We’ll confirm the current stay period for your situation rather than quote a figure that may be out of date.
There’s a set window after you finish your course. Miss it and you generally can’t apply, so this is one to sort early. Talk to us before your window closes.
Yes. The 485 gives you work rights without needing an employer sponsor, which is the point of the visa. It’s your chance to build the local experience that supports a permanent visa later.
Not by itself. It gives you time and work rights to gather what you need for skilled migration or employer sponsorship. We plan that next step with you from the start.
In many cases, yes, family members can be included. There are extra requirements and costs, and we’ll walk you through them.
Depending on your field and circumstances there may be a second graduate visa, a skilled pathway, or employer sponsorship. Come and see us before it expires so nothing lapses.
