Australia is not a dream.
It is a budget, a visa and a plane ticket.
We are Pavlína and Vráťa. We moved to Cairns in 2001 and we have been getting students here ever since — the school, the student visa, somewhere to live, and the first job. Work out what it really costs before you talk to anyone, including us.
BEFORE YOU SEND ANYONE MONEY
Four things the internet still gets wrong about Australia
Every one of these is on a website offering advice about Australia right now. Every correction below has its source next to it, so you can check us the same way.
There is no GTE test any more. Australia replaced the Genuine Temporary Entrant requirement with the Genuine Student (GS) test on 23 March 2024, and the questions are different — it asks about your course, your ties at home and what you plan to do after, in writing, in your own words. Any site still coaching you for GTE is two years behind.
It is 48 hours per fortnight while your course is running, and unlimited during scheduled course breaks. The cap moved on 1 July 2023 and it has not moved since. At the minimum wage of AUD 26.44 an hour, those eight extra hours are about AUD 210 a fortnight — which is most of a week's rent in Cairns.
Source: Home Affairs, Study Australia
From 1 July 2026 the student visa application charge is AUD 2,050 for an English course and AUD 2,500 for anything else. It went up 25%. That is before tuition, before OSHC, before the flight — and it is not refunded if the application fails.
Source: Fragomen, IDP Education
Not since 2024. A visitor visa cannot be converted to a student visa onshore — you lodge from outside Australia, before you fly. Anyone telling you otherwise is working from old information, and you are the one who pays for it.
Source: Department of Home Affairs rules in force since 2024
We take no commission from you. Schools pay education agents, students do not — the course costs the same whether you arrange it yourself or through us. What you get on top: someone who lives in Cairns, picks you up at the airport, and answers the phone when something goes wrong.
BUDGET CALCULATOR
What will a year in Australia actually cost you?
Course, length, city, where you live and how much you work. You get the total in AUD, how much of it you earn back, and whether that budget passes the visa's financial test. No competitor of ours has this, in any language.
Tuition, rent, food and the other costs come from the ranges ABS publishes on the Study in Australia page (we use the middle of each range). The minimum wage of AUD 26.44/hour applies from 1 July 2026 (Study Australia). The visa charge of AUD 2,050 (English course) / AUD 2,500 (everything else) applies from 1 July 2026. Rents outside Cairns are an estimate. This is an estimate, not an offer — we will price your actual school and start date for you.
HOW IT WORKS
Six steps from “I am thinking about it” to “I live here”
Pick where you are going
Most of our students come to Cairns, because that is where we live and where we can actually look after them. If Sydney or Brisbane makes more sense for you, we will say so.
Find the school and the course
English from scratch, a vocational course, or one after the other. We choose on what you want to do next — not on which school pays the higher commission.
Get the student visa through
The Genuine Student statement, the CoE, OSHC, evidence of funds, and the application itself in ImmiAccount. Complicated cases go to a MARA agent here in Cairns.
Sort somewhere to live
A share house or a homestay for the first weeks, so you have an address to fly into. After that we help you find your own place.
Get you ready to fly
What to pack, how much cash to bring, what to do about insurance, your driver's licence and any medication. We have a list, and it has been getting better since 2001.
Look after you once you land
We pick you up at the airport. Bank account, TFN, SIM card, finding your way around, finding work — and then we are on the phone for as long as you are here.
WHAT WE HELP WITH
Everything you need — and then the part nobody warns you about
School and course
English, vocational and university courses. We will tell you what is actually worth studying.
MoreStudent visa
Subclass 500, from the Genuine Student statement to lodgement. We know what applications fail on.
MoreSomewhere to live
Share house, homestay, apartment or hostel — depending on your budget and how fast you want to meet people.
MoreWork and paperwork
TFN, bank account, superannuation, the tax return, and above all the first job.
MoreYour first days here
Airport pick-up, SIM card, finding your way around. On day two you are already not on your own.
MoreThe whole time you are here
Doctors, visa extensions, moving house, buying a car, trips with the group. We do not stop at the contract.
MoreREVIEWS
From people who are already there
I will add my praise for Pavlína and Vráťa. I am in Australia only because of them. They took care of every formality, patiently, and they waited for me to land through a twelve-hour delay. They made the start at the end of the world — or is it the beginning? — completely smooth. If you are hesitating, I can only recommend them. Everything here is new, and with these people you still feel at home.
Thanks to ABS I have a second chance and a new life in Australia. I came to Cairns because of Pavlína and Vráťa. I knew on the first phone call. Willing to help, straight with me, and genuinely generous with their time. All the paperwork and the student visa application went perfectly. If you get stuck on something here, you just call.
Pavlína and Vráťa will help you with anything, and they are glad to. They sorted my visa, found me a beautiful place to live right next to the school, and we went on trips together. Whenever I did not know something I could call and ask. Do not be afraid — come to warm, permanently green Cairns.
These are real reviews from our students, translated from Czech. The originals are on our Czech site and on Facebook.
OUR STORY
We live where we send you
In 2001 an agency told us to keep quiet about a detail on our own visa application. We flew to Cairns anyway, sorted it ourselves, and stayed. Everything Australia Best Study does comes from that: we say the thing the brochure leaves out, we put the price on the page, and we are in the same town as you are.
Pavlína and Vráťa Řehola, Cairns, Queensland. Twenty-five years, 1,398 students, and a phone that still rings at 2am when somebody's flight is delayed.
WHAT IS CHANGING
The rules move. We keep the page up to date.
Studying and working in Australia: monthly income vs costs, 2026
A student visa (subclass 500) lets you work 48 hours per fortnight while your course is running, and unlimited hours during scheduled breaks. We worked out what that means for a real monthly budget.
Read the sourceAustralian visa fees went up again
The student visa charge is now AUD 2,050 for an English course and AUD 2,500 for everything else — a 25% rise. Budget for it at the start, not the week before you lodge.
Read the sourceThe GTE test is gone. Meet the Genuine Student test.
Australia replaced the Genuine Temporary Entrant requirement with the Genuine Student test. If a website still tells you to prove you are a temporary entrant, it has not been updated in two years.
Read the sourceWRITE TO US
You do not need to have it figured out.
That is what we are for.
Most people write to us while they still do not know whether they want a language course, a vocational course, six months or three years. That is completely fine — we start with what you want to be doing afterwards.
- We answer within one working day.
- The consultation is free and commits you to nothing.
- If Australia is a bad idea for you, we will say so.
Rather talk? +61 404 516 895 (Cairns) or email abs@australiabeststudy.com. It is — in Cairns.