Failed a subject on your student visa? What actually happens (condition 8202)
What condition 8202 actually requires, how the course-progress reporting process works step by step, the deadlines you can't miss, and who to appeal to if it goes wrong. Figures as at September 2026.
Read the full guide, with official sources →
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Chapters
- 0:00 One failed subject
- 0:14 Condition 8202 requires:
- 0:24 50%
- 0:36 Flagged, then supported
- 0:50 Fall short again?
- 1:01 20 working days
- 1:24 NOICC:
- 1:36 The most common mistake:
- 1:48 When it's time for advice
- 2:00 Where to read more
Transcript
Failing one subject does not automatically cancel your student visa. But it can engage condition 8202, and there's a process with deadlines you can't miss.
Condition 8202 requires you to stay enrolled in a registered course, keep satisfactory attendance, and make satisfactory course progress.
There's no fixed legal percentage for satisfactory progress. Your provider sets its own benchmark for each course, often 50 percent of units attempted as a default — but some courses require more.
If you fail your provider's benchmark, its monitoring system flags it. Your provider must then offer an intervention strategy — support, an academic plan, and a warning letter — before anything is reported.
Fall short again in the next study period despite that support, and your provider can move to report you — but only after sending an intention to report letter first.
That letter gives you 20 working days to lodge an internal appeal through your provider's complaints process. Miss it, and you lose that chance.
If your appeal fails, you can go external. A private provider's decision goes to the Overseas Students Ombudsman. A public university or TAFE's decision goes to your state or territory ombudsman instead.
If no appeal succeeds, your provider reports you through PRISMS. Home Affairs can then issue a Notice of Intention to Consider Cancellation, commonly giving you 28 days to respond in writing.
The most common mistake: ignoring the letters. Intervention and intention-to-report letters carry real deadlines. Miss one, and you lose the chance to respond.
Get advice early if you've had an intention to report letter or a NOICC, if you've fallen short two study periods running, or if a visa refusal or expiry is already part of the picture.
The full guide, with the official sources, is on migratio.com.au. The link is in the description. And if you'd like to talk it through, you can compare registered migration agents there, and see their fees before you book anything.
Short versions
- One failed subject won't cancel your student visa (0:33)
- There's no fixed pass rate that keeps your visa safe (0:30)
- Course progress appeal rejected? Here's who to go to (0:29)
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