What's next after graduation?

Gaining employment in your chosen field is a great way to further your skills. Medibank offer a range of Overseas Workers Health Covers designed for holders of temporary working and skilled visas who may require insurance as part of their visa conditions.

Two common visa subclasses that Medibank’s Overseas Workers Health Covers are 100% compliant with the Department of Home Affairs’ adequate health cover guidelines for meeting visa condition 8501 are: 

• The Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) which is for international students who have recently graduated from an Australian educational institution. This visa allows you work in Australia temporarily after finishing your studies.
• The Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482), referred to as the TSS visa, which enables employers to address labour shortages by bringing in genuinely skilled workers where they cannot source an appropriately skilled Australian. TSS visa holders can work in Australia in their nominated occupation for their approved sponsor for 1 to 4 years depending on which of the three streams they apply under.
• In addition to meeting any health insurance requirements of your new visa subclass, our range of Overseas Workers Health Covers can help with the cost of medical treatment if you have an accident or get sick while remaining in Australia. 

Whether you’re continuing your studies in the same field or a different one, you can renew your Medibank OSHC for the length of time you need for your new course. 

Take a look at the different options below for ways we can help you renew your OSHC and provide you with the OSHC certificate you’ll generally need to submit with your Student visa application.

• Renew your OSHC via the Medibank OSHC App or Online Member Services
• Call 134 148 (within Australia) or +61 3 9862 1095 (outside of Australia) – Monday to Friday, 8am-8pm AEST
• Visit your local Medibank store or on-campus support person
• Email oshc@medibank.com.au

After you’ve graduated you may want to spend some time enjoying Australia. The Visitor visa (subclass 600), Electronic Travel Authority visa (subclass 601) and eVisitor visa (subclass 651) each let you travel Australia as a tourist, visit friends or family, cruise or have a holiday. Before you head off on your post study adventure however, you should take a look at our Overseas Visitors Health Covers. They are designed for people visiting Australia who are fit and healthy, don’t require health cover for visa purposes and only want to be covered for the essentials and accidents, ‘just in case’.  

If you’ve been living on campus, you’ll need to find a new place to call home, either on your own or sharing with other people. Moving out of student accommodation will give you greater freedom and independence, but keep in mind you’ll need to manage your own bills for things like electricity, gas and internet. 

You can find a house or apartment to rent online through websites like domain.com.au or realestate.com.au. You’ll need to pay a bond (usually one month’s rent) up front, which you’ll get back if you leave the house in good condition when you move out. Sharing with other people allows you to split the cost of bills and sometimes food.

You could also join an established household by searching for share houses on sites like Gumtree or Flatmate Finders. 

You’ve done the study, now you’re ready to find a job. The first thing you’ll need is a CV which lists your qualifications and any previous work experience or internships. It’s also a good idea to create a professional profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great place to find and apply for jobs, as is the popular website SEEK. 

If you get an interview, make sure to do plenty of research about the company before you go, and think of how you might answer their questions. You could even have a friend do a practice interview with you.

On the day of your interview, enter the room with confidence and make sure to smile and be friendly, even if you’re nervous, and don’t be afraid to ask questions about the company or the job.

After your interview you can send a short email thanking the interviewers for their time and, if you think the job’s right for you, let them know you’re keen to work for them. If you haven’t heard back in a few days it’s ok to send a follow up email. If you don’t end up getting the job, you can politely ask for feedback, but don’t be upset if they aren’t able to provide any. 

It’s generally a condition of the Student visa that you maintain OSHC for the duration of your visa. This means that you must maintain your OSHC until either your Student visa either expires, or you are granted a new visa subclass (excluding a Bridging visa).

Once your Student visa expires, or an application for a new visa (other than a Bridging visa) is granted, you cease to be eligible for OSHC, and should contact us immediately to ensure that your cover is closed and to determine any refund entitlements.

If your OSHC is still active at the time you lodge your application for a subclass 485 visa, you can provide evidence of your current OSHC as part of your subclass 485 visa application.

If your Student visa and OSHC are set to expire before a decision on your subclass 485 application is made, you must take out Overseas Workers Health Cover to start from the day after that, to ensure that you have continuous health cover and continue to meet your visa conditions.

If you expect a decision on your visa application before your Student visa and OSHC expire, then you can wait until you are contacted by the Department of Home Affairs to show evidence of holding a health cover that is suitable for the new subclass 485 visa you are applying for before they finalise their decision.

If you are applying for a new visa, other than a subclass 485 or 500 visa, and holding health cover is a requirement of your new visa, you may be required to provide evidence of having taken out a health cover that is suitable for the visa that you are applying for as part of your visa application.

Where this is the case, then even if you still hold OSHC, it will not be considered suitable health cover for the purpose of lodging your visa application, and you will need to ensure you are adequately covered before you apply.

If you are taking out an Overseas Workers Health Cover for visa purposes, you should ensure it starts from the day after your Student visa and OSHC is set to expire to ensure that you have continuous health cover and continue to meet any visa conditions.

When you are eligible for and take out Overseas Workers Health Cover with Medibank, we can provide you a visa health insurance certificate that you can include as part of your visa application where required.

If the new visa that you are applying for does not require you to take out health cover, then you can start your new health cover any time after your Student visa expiry date, however we still recommend that you start it from the day after to ensure that you have continuous cover in the event of an accident or emergency.

When you’re holding two covers at the same time, we recommend that:

If your Student visa has not yet expired: you continue to use your OSHC until it expires.

If your Student visa has already expired: you use your new Visitors Cover (Overseas Workers Health Cover or Overseas Visitors Health Cover).

When your new visa has been granted, simply get in contact with us and provide a copy of your Visa Grant Notice from the Department of Home Affairs  and we’ll close and refund (if applicable) your OSHC to align with the start date of your Overseas Workers Health Cover. 

It’s easy. Simply choose the health cover that suits your needs and provide us your previous health fund details when you join online, over the phone or in-store and we'll do the rest for you.

Otherwise, if you choose to close your cover with your previous Australian health insurer, they’ll provide you with a transfer certificate. You’ll need to send this to us. We’ll then make sure any waiting periods you’ve already served are recognised.^#

Once you’ve applied for Medibank’s Overseas Workers Health Cover, you’ll receive your health insurance visa letter to support your visa application, by email.

Yes, you need to maintain your OSHC for the duration of your student visa, even if you’re currently on a semester break with no classes.

As these are different types of cover offered by Medibank, you’ll receive a new membership card, as well as a new membership number.

Once your current OSHC membership expires you’ll no longer have access to the Medibank OSHC app. Instead, you should download and register for the My Medibank app, which you can use to manage your new Medibank Visitors Cover.  

No, no waiting periods will apply provided that waiting periods for comparable services and benefits have been served on your OSHC and your new cover starts within 2 months of your OSHC expiring. 

But, if you had not completed serving the waiting periods, or your new cover includes services or additional benefits that weren’t previously included under your OSHC, then yes, you’ll need to finish serving your remaining waiting periods, as well as waiting periods additional services for any new services or additional benefits being added to your cover. 

When either your new visa has been granted or your original Student visa expires, you’ll be able to close your Medibank OSHC. When this occurs, simply get in contact with us and we’ll recognise any waiting periods served for comparable services and benefits on your OSHC membership on your new Visitors Cover. Just provide us with a copy of your Visa Grant Notice from the Department of Home Affairs and we’ll close your OSHC and adjust the waiting periods on your new Visitors Cover. 

When you close your cover with your previous Australian health insurer, they’ll provide you with a transfer certificate. We’ll use this to recognise any applicable waiting periods you have already served on your previous cover for comparable services and benefits.

It’s important to note however, your waiting periods are only recognised if you join within 2 months of the closure date of your previous health cover. You may also still need to serve any waiting periods you have not fully served with your previous fund. Waiting periods for any new or upgraded services or benefits also apply.

Let us know which cover you’d like to join and contact us.

Yes! If your visa subclass requires you hold health cover to meet visa condition 8501, then it’s likely any family members joining you in Australia will also need to arrange adequate health cover. Luckily, it’s easy to add someone to your cover.

It’s important to note that not all covers are available in all membership categories and that someone needs to be included on your visa in order to be included on your membership. Contact us if you’d like to discuss adding someone to your membership.

Most Visitors Covers don’t include services such as dental, optical or physiotherapy. If you want any of these services included, you can purchase a higher-level of cover (where available), or take out a separate extras cover for services like these. You can talk to Medibank's overseas health cover team about the best extras cover for you.⁺

Yes, you’re able to set up your payments to suit your preferences. You can choose to set up a direct debit to pay for your premiums on a fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly basis.

This is the amount you are required to pay directly to the hospital towards your admission, so is deducted from any benefits we pay towards your hospital admission. It applies per person per calendar year but does not apply to any children on a family membership. For covers with a choice of excess, the higher the excess you choose, the lower your premiums will be.

Yes. You can suspend your new Medibank Visitors Cover membership if you’re travelling overseas. You must be travelling overseas for a minimum period of two months in order to suspend your membership. The maximum period for which you can suspend your membership is four months. Once you reactive your membership, you cannot suspend again for a further 6 months.