The old test asked applicants to prove a negative: that they did not intend to remain. The Genuine Student requirement asks something answerable instead — whether the course follows from your background, whether you understand what it contains, and whether your account of it holds together. That is a better question, and it is considerably harder to answer with a template.
In preparation
The full guide is still being written.
We publish a guide once every figure in it has been checked against the government page it came from — and not before. The summary above is the whole of what we are prepared to state on this subject today. The official sources this piece will be built on are listed below, and until it is finished you are better served reading them than reading a draft of ours.
If this is the question in front of you now, put it to an advisor rather than waiting for the article. The answer for your file is always more specific than the answer for a page.
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SourceAustralian Department of Home Affairs — Student visa (subclass 500)Last verified September 2026
