* Read before you Work!

I am writing this for Students who is aspiring to study in Australia and also for those who are currently studying here.

****Please do NOT do part time job in places where there is no Workcover insurance is not paid by the employer or if the establishment has not registered with Workcover****

***** Its illegal for a person to run business without Workers Compensation Insurance being paid****

***The seriousness of this ignorance will be well understood only when an injury occurs at workplace where there is no workcover is provided****

***One of my friend who went to help his other friend in Pizza delivery unfortunately cut his right wrist while trying to fix car stereo. He tried to remove a blade from a swipe to cut wires. The blade slipped from his left hand and landed on right wrist causing a deep cut. He was admitted in a hospital nearby and a surgery for nearly 5 hours was performed to repair the damaged tendons and Median nerve cut. He lost sensations in 4 fingers and doctors say that it will take more than 6 months to 1 year for the nerves to grow to get the sensations back(being a right handed person .U can imagine!).

The person, who admitted my friend into the emergency ward, inadvertently told the warden that it occurred in the work place and the hospital recorded it as work accident. After he got discharged from hospital he spoke to the finance department of the hospital and explained to them that this incident is not related to worker’s compensation and they immediately updated the records. The medical bill for $4500(approx) was sent to overseas student health Insurance for claim.

They rejected the claim stating that though the injury did not occur during work, it happened near the workplace, hence the claim should be lodged with Worker's compensation. The pizza shop is not registred and this caused huge mental trauma for my friend in. After a long tussle between the insurance companies the student health insurance has accepted to pay the medical bills with a condition that a claim reject letter from workercover should be produced. Hence a workcover claim has been lodged and he is still wondering howmany complications it will lead to(this being his last semester and he is verge of completing the course).

Hence please friends! make sure that the place you are working is a registered one and the workers are being covered with Workcover insurance. Hope this will be an eyeopener for those who are not aware of Workcover. Ensure well enough before joining in any place of work, whatever may be the nature of the job.

Thanks for the patience! and I hope that everyone consider this as a serious issue.

Have a safe and peaceful study in Australia .. Good luck to you all!

Courtesy: Giridharan, University of South Australia. You may write to him to know more giri_sampath [at] yahoo [dot] com

Finding your First Home

I think it is safe for students to book the temporary accommodation arranged by the university for the first week or ten initial days.

Then, you can always find a home with the help of real estate agents (free), newspapers or even university notice boards and discussion forums.

You can start your search from these links..

www.realestate.com.au/ - for any type of house hunting throughout Australia
http://www.bcl.com.au/adelaide/realestate/
http://www.truelocal.com.au/ - to find real estate agents
http://www.domain.com.au

Also look for
The Advertiser - Wednesday and Saturday editions

And meet us at
http://groups.google.com/group/adelaidestudents
www.orkut.com search 'students in adelaide'

I reproduce a write-up by one of the current international students who would like to warn incoming students..

"I guess UNISA has Student Living Apartments but
they are terribly expensive therefore I have no idea about cheaper
places since I checked the UNISA website from India and booked in one of
the apartments listed on the Accommodation list. I transferred an
initial sum of 500 Australian Dollars from India. I guess it was not at all a good
thing to do for sure. I guess it is good to advise students to arrive in
Adelaide and then try and find places of accommodation. I guess most
students do that. I was stupid.

And now I have ended up paying 650 dollars a month and an years contract.
That reminds me about the fact that students need to be warned before hand
that they need to be careful when they sign contracts for their houses.
I guess the best way to go about it is to sign for an initial 6 months and then assess the
situation later after 6 months.

Basic Information like Bond Money,Administrative Fee, Rent paid either weekly,
or monthly these are the type of things they need to know. Some houses are
fully furnished, some are partly furnished some are just not furnished. Then what are the
options for people whose houses are not furnished."

How to extend your Student VISA?

For some unavoidable academic reasons (ok, man, I have failed in 2 subjects and want to extend), if you want to extend your student VISA, floow these steps. These are extracted from the guidelines supplied by DIMIA (Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs), UNSW, Monash and Macquarie universities. May be your Uni website may contain some tips. Contact Campus Central or International Student Centre.

Here is the brief outline of the procedure.

Important Note:

You must lodge your student visa extension application to DIMIA within 28 days of your current visa’s expiry date. Applications lodged after this time may be refused. Sooner the better.

Also, note that DIMIA will not give you an extension on your Student Visa for graduation purposes. If you wish to stay in Australia for a graduation ceremony, you must apply for a Tourist Visa from the DIMIA.


In order to apply for student visa extension, you need:
1) A valid Passport (Check the Expiry Date of your Passport!)

2) A valid Confirmation of Enrolment (COE) (Ask your Co-ordinator)

3) Overseas Student Health Cover (Renew it first to cover the extended study period)

4) Previous Academic Transcript (Request the transcripts till the previous semester)

5) You need to do Medical examination once again for student visa extension and it would cost you AUD $290. One copy of the Medical report will be sent to you and you have to submit it to DIMIA with the receipt of medical and X-ray examinations. (Form 26 and Form 160 can be downloaded from
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/index.htm)

6) Evidence of you Financial Ability. (Letter from your Bank saying they would cover the fees. Please check this DIMIA’s page to obtain more information on the level of funds you need to meet this requirement.)

7) Three (3) passport-sized photographs not more than 6 months old. One for the application and 2 for medical forms. ** Some cases it is not needed.

8) Download the relevant forms from this page of DIMIA website: They are form 157A, information sheet 1160i and the relevant information booklet & information sheet 1163i for information regarding health checks.

9) Make an appointment with DIMIA by calling 131881 to submit your application or goto DIMIA and ask details at helpdesk. They will guide you to drop the documents in lodgement box.

10) Pay an application fee of $430; by Credit Card, EFTPOS, Bank Cheque, or Money Order. Check the prices at this page

11) Internet Visa lodgement is also available on this page of DIMIA website. Student visa holders already in Australia can e-lodge regardless of their student assessment level, at any time within 6 weeks of their course starting. If you lodge over the internet, you will receive an emailed confirmation of your lodgement, together with a list of documents required by DIMIA. You will also be granted a bridging visa to ensure you remain lawful while waiting for your application to be assessed. After receiving your e-lodgement receipt, you must call within 48 hours on 131 881 and make an appointment to see a DIMIA officer.


You may continue reading more at DIMIA website.