Immediate answer
If you work while studying in Australia, two things are true at the same time: your visa limits how many hours you can work, and your workplace rights do not depend on your visa at all.
Start with the second one, because it is the one employers lie about most.
Your rights apply no matter what
Everyone who works in Australia has the same minimum workplace rights, regardless of citizenship or visa status. A contract or a verbal deal cannot take them away. As an international student you are entitled to at least the minimum or award wage for the job, a payslip every time you are paid, breaks and other minimum conditions, and superannuation if you are an employee.
Even if you worked more hours than your visa allows, you must still be paid correctly for every hour you worked. Going over the cap does not cancel your right to proper pay, and you can still get help to recover unpaid wages.
Your employer cannot cancel your visa. Only the Department of Home Affairs can grant, refuse or cancel a visa. An employer who says “complain and I’ll report you to immigration” is using your visa as a weapon — that is a form of coercion, and it is a strong sign you are dealing with exploitation, not a favour.
Australia also runs official protections for visa holders who report exploitation, including the Strengthening Reporting Protections arrangement and the Workplace Justice Visa (a subclass 408 stream). Both began as pilots in July 2024 and require the exploitation matter to be certified by a body such as the Fair Work Ombudsman, a union or a community legal centre. The details and duration of these programs can change — check the Home Affairs and Fair Work pages for the current position before relying on them.
The work-hour limit (condition 8105)
Most subclass 500 visas carry condition 8105. While your course is in session, you can work up to 48 hours per fortnight. During scheduled course breaks, you can work unlimited hours. You generally cannot work at all before your course has started.
What “a fortnight” means — this is the trap. Officially a fortnight is “the period of 14 days commencing on a Monday”, and the windows overlap. Home Affairs can look at any 14-day period starting on any Monday, not just neat two-week blocks. For example:
- Week 1: 25 hours, Week 2: 20 hours — that fortnight is 45 hours. Fine.
- Week 3: 40 hours, Week 4: 8 hours — that fortnight is 48 hours. Fine.
- But weeks 2 + 3 together are 60 hours — that is a breach, even though each “neat” fortnight looked fine.
Count every rolling 14-day window, and count all work combined: every casual job, part-time job, and ABN or gig work such as delivery or rideshare. Unpaid trial shifts and unpaid internships usually count too, because “work” includes activity that would normally be paid.
Hours that don’t count or limits that don’t apply:
- A mandatory placement registered as part of your CRICOS course (for example a required clinical placement) does not count toward the 48 hours. Optional placements do count.
- If you have started a masters by research or a PhD, you have no work-hour limit.
- Your visa may carry different conditions — check your own on VEVO rather than assuming.
If you see “40 hours” online, it is out of date. The pre-COVID cap was 40; it was temporarily removed during the pandemic and re-introduced at 48 hours per fortnight from 1 July 2023. Confirm the current figure on Home Affairs.
Why breaching matters. Breaching a condition is a ground for visa cancellation under section 116 of the Migration Act 1958, and Home Affairs can detect over-work through tax, payroll and super data. This is exactly why “cash-in-hand so your hours stay hidden” is not protection — it leaves the employer safe and you exposed, usually underpaid, and without evidence.
Super, DASP and tax
If you are an employee, your employer must pay superannuation on top of your wages — students included. When you leave Australia permanently and your visa has ended, you can claim it back as a DASP.
Do not let anyone apply the working-holiday rate to you. The heavily quoted 65% DASP tax rate applies to the working holiday maker component only. A former student who was never a working holiday maker is generally taxed at 35% on the taxed element — a different and lower rate. Check the current rates on the ATO before you claim, and be wary of agents who quote one flat rate for everyone.
You need a TFN to work and be taxed correctly. The “backpacker tax” scale does not apply to student visa holders who were never working holiday makers, and many students count as residents for tax purposes depending on circumstances — check the ATO rather than a group chat.
Your study keeps the visa alive
Staying under 48 hours is not enough by itself. Condition 8202 requires full-time enrolment in a CRICOS-registered course with satisfactory attendance and progress, and condition 8501 requires continuous OSHC health cover. If work is squeezing out your study, the visa risk comes from the study side too — that is the moment to get help from your provider, not to push harder.
Red flags / what to watch
- “Students get a lower wage.” False. There is no special lower wage for students.
- Cash-in-hand “so your hours don’t show”. No payslip, no super, no proof when you are underpaid — and the visa risk stays yours.
- “Complain and I’ll report you to immigration.” Coercion. Reporting exploitation will not, by itself, get your visa cancelled.
- Long unpaid “training” or “trial” shifts. A genuine brief observed trial can be unpaid; doing real productive work for free usually is not lawful.
- Paying for sponsorship or a job, or “cashback” wage returns. Asking you to pay for a visa or job outcome, or to hand wages back, is illegal.
Official help / sources
- Fair Work Ombudsman — 13 13 94: free advice on pay and conditions, free interpreters, anonymous reporting. Use the free PACT pay calculator to check your pay and the Record My Hours app to track your shifts across jobs.
- TIS National — 131 450: free phone interpreting for contacting government services in your language.
- Study Australia: official information for international students about working while studying.
- Student complaints: the National Student Ombudsman (universities) or the Overseas Students Ombudsman at the Commonwealth Ombudsman (private providers).
- Emergencies and wellbeing: 000 for police, fire or ambulance; 1800RESPECT for sexual, domestic and family violence support; Lifeline for crisis support.
This page is general information only, not legal or migration advice. Rules change — check the official sources above before you act.