What to prepare as an international student before you arrive in Australia

Once you’ve received an offer to study with us, make sure you officially accept it. After you have paid the relevant fees we will issue you with your Confirmation of Enrolment, also called a CoE. Keep a digital copy of your CoE handy as it is an important document which you will need for other processes.

You will need a current passport which is valid for a minimum of six months to travel to Australia as an international student. Now is the time to renew your passport if required. It’s a good idea to take a colour photocopy of your passport and leave it at home with your family, or a scanned digital version that you can email to them and yourself for reference.

It is a requirement for you to hold current overseas student health cover (OSHC) to apply for a student visa. As part of this process, you might need to have health examinations. Find out about which examinations you need and how to arrange them. 

Not all health insurers offer OSHC. We recommend that you look at the different plans and prices from the companies currently providing overseas student health cover to decide which option best suits your needs. 

At UNSW College, our preferred provider of OSHC for international students is Medibank Private.

• Medibank Private
• CBHS International Health
• BUPA Australia
• Allianz Care Australia (Peoplecare)
• ahm OSCH
• NIB OSCH

Basic OSCH plans will generally include visits to the doctor (GP), some hospital treatments, ambulance, and some prescribed medicines. 

At UNSW College and UNSW Sydney, we offer health services on campus including medical clinic, optometrist, dentist, doctor, physiotherapist and UNSW Counselling and Psychological Services (CAPS).

If there are other services you want covered, it could be worth considering adding extras with your basic OSHC. Another option to consider is purchasing travel insurance or private health insurance in addition to your OSHC so you can cover treatments not included in your cover.

Please wait until you have your student visa processed and granted before booking your flight to Australia. Consider when your study starts and give yourself time to settle in and perhaps even do some sight-seeing before launching into your learning. If you’re going to find accommodation after arriving, give yourself at least two weeks to arrange this before classes start.

Some great tips on how to prepare for your flight to Australia are available on the Study Australia website.

You will need to have accommodation for your first night (or more) arranged before you travel to Australia. This is because you need to provide an Australian address on your incoming passenger card when you arrive, which you show at immigration. 

If you wish to secure on-campus accommodation, apply as soon as you can as these rooms are generally the most popular for international students and book out quickly. 

For those seeking off-campus options, you might want to book a hotel or Airbnb for your first few nights, or longer, to give you time to secure your new place.

Once you have your accommodation sorted, be sure to inform us of your new address as it’s a condition of your student visa for your education provider to have these details. 

There’s a lot to consider when embarking on the exciting adventure of studying overseas. Work through each task to ensure that you’ve covered all the processes and requirements for a smooth journey to Australia and set up of your new life here in Sydney. 

At UNSW College we’ve supported over 40,000 international students in accessing university studies via our pathway programs and pride ourselves on providing a nurturing environment catering to students from all over the world to thrive academically and personally. 

If you have any questions about what you need to prepare before arrival, don’t hesitate to contact us here.