Australia’s Ministerial Direction 115 (MD 115) came into effect earlier this month, creating a three‑tier “fast/standard/slow” lane for offshore Student Visa (Subclass 500) applications.

• Tier 1 (Fast lane): Schools, English‑language colleges, government‑funded TAFEs, post‑graduate research, and providers who’ve used less than 80% of their New Overseas Student Commencement (NOSC) quota. Processing anticipated at 1‑4 weeks.
• Tier 2 (Standard lane): Providers using circa 80% of their allocation; expect 5‑8 weeks processing.
• Tier 3 (Slow lane): Providers that have exceeded ~115% of quota or are oversubscribed; processing expected at 9‑12 weeks or more.

University Application Cycles & Timing

Most Aussie universities run international student intake as follows:

Semester 1 – 2026: Starts ~late Feb / early March. Applications for 2026 Semester 1 often open in mid‑2025 (around Aug–Nov), with deadlines around Dec 2025 ‑ Jan 2026.

Semester 2 – 2026: Starts ~July 2026. Applications open early 2026 (Jan‑May) with deadlines in May/June 2026.

Some universities also have a Term/Trimester 3 or “late” intake (~Sept/Oct/Nov) but with fewer program options.

So if you apply late in each cycle, with just 2‑3 months before the semester starts, and your school/provider falls in Tier 3 (safe to say most of the Go8 falls into this category), a 9‑12 week processing time might push you past orientation or even cause you to miss the first week of classes. In some cases you might have to delay enrollment.

The stated goal of this change is to help re-distribute international student allocation from clustering in major city centers to Tier II or rural cities, but this really only affects you if you have a bad habit of procrastinating :)

Get those apps in early!