🇻🇳Study in Australia from Vietnam

Apply through the university's international portal or an authorised agent. Direct application is accepted at most universities for Vietnamese citizens, including at universities in Western Australia such as Curtin, which is the state where several other South and Southeast Asian markets face agent-only rules. Agents are still widely used in Vietnam for the offer, deposit, and visa steps, not because universities require it.

Have certified copies of your transcripts and completion certificates ready, with certified English translations. Some universities want documents verified through the awarding institution.

Most universities run February and July intakes and assess on a rolling basis. Apply two to three months ahead. Use the universities directory to shortlist and the deadline calendar for the recommended dates.

Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training has put the number of study-abroad consulting firms operating in the country at more than 2,500, and most Vietnamese families use one because of the language barrier and the amount of paperwork involved, not because a university requires it. The Australian Embassy in Hanoi and the Consulate-General in Ho Chi Minh City both run standing visa-scam warning pages, most recently reissued around International Fraud Awareness Week in November 2025, describing social media posts that falsely promise an Australian visa for sums as high as VND 1.5 billion. Those warnings are about general migration fraud rather than education-agent fraud specifically; treat any agent who guarantees a visa outcome, asks you to pay before lodging, or wants to communicate only through Zalo, WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger as a red flag, and track your own application through ImmiAccount.

A first year in Australia costs roughly VND 741.6 million to 1.5 billion for a student from Vietnam, converted from A$40,000 to A$80,000 at the rate above. Tuition is the part that moves: the rest (living costs, the visa, health cover) is fixed by the Australian Government and identical for every nationality.

Tuition runs from the low A$30,000s at regional and newer universities to the high A$40,000s and beyond at the Group of Eight. Living costs depend on the city: budget around A$30,000 a year, more in Sydney and Melbourne, less in Adelaide, Perth, and regional centres.

On top of that: the A$2,500 student visa, roughly A$500 to A$700 a year for single Overseas Student Health Cover, flights, and initial setup. See the cost-of-living breakdowns by city and the most affordable universities.

Vietnam has a long-running Australia Awards Scholarships intake, and from 2026 the program is topped up by the Mekong-Australia Partnership (MAP) stream, adding Master's places in fields like water security, climate action, and economic resilience. This runs separately from the general international scholarships Australian universities offer directly (see the scholarships hub).

International students hold the subclass 500 student visa. You apply after you receive and accept an offer and the university issues a Confirmation of Enrolment. You must meet the Genuine Student requirement, which replaced the Genuine Temporary Entrant test in March 2024, and show genuine access to funds.

Home Affairs calculates a country's evidence level from a weighted index of visa cancellations (25 percent), refusals for a fraud reason (40 percent, the single largest weight), other refusals (10 percent), the rate of student visa holders becoming unlawful non-citizens (15 percent), and the rate of Subsequent Protection Visa applications (10 percent). A score below 1.0 sits at Level 1, a score between 1.0 and 2.7 sits at Level 2, and a score above 2.7 sits at Level 3. Vietnam sits within that Level 2 band, alongside China. Home Affairs does not publish a specific date for when Vietnam was set at Level 2, so treat its placement as an established, longstanding rating rather than a recent change, and check the current level when you apply since these are reviewed periodically.

Home Affairs' most recent quarterly program report (to 31 December 2025) shows Vietnam as Australia's ninth largest source of student visa lodgements in the 2025-26 program year to that date (5,647 applications, down 5.6 percent on the same period the year before, 2.7 percent of the total) and ninth largest by visas granted (4,487, down 30.8 percent, 2.5 percent of the total). Vietnam was also the fifth largest source of student visa holders in Australia as at 31 December 2025, with 22,322 people, though that was down 7.5 percent on a year earlier as the broader student visa population contracted. Grant rates for Vietnamese applicants were 80.7 percent for decisions made onshore and 85.8 percent offshore in the October to December 2025 quarter, both slightly higher than a year earlier (75.8 percent and 80.1 percent respectively), and above the equivalent rates for several Evidence Level 3 countries in the same report.

Where Vietnamese applications run into trouble it is usually over source of funds, a gap between the study plan and the applicant's background, or thin Genuine Student statements. A documented savings history and a study plan that follows on from previous study address most of it.

Full detail on the visa itself, conditions, and family members is on the subclass 500 page.

Most bachelor’s and master’s graduates qualify for a Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485), which gives two to three years of full work rights. That skilled work is the usual step toward permanent residence through the points-tested visas.

Check where you stand with the points calculator and track demand in the SkillSelect invitation rounds.