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The Genuine Student (GS) Requirement for Indian Applicants: The Four Questions, the Evidence and the Common Mistakes

Since 23 March 2024 every student visa application has been assessed against the Genuine Student (GS) requirement, which replaced the Genuine Temporary Entrant test. You answer four questions in the application form, each in no more than 150 words, and the case officer weighs those answers against your documents.

Leonid Kurza, co-founder of EdumappleBy Leonid Kurza · co-founder of Edumapple · checked

  • 4questions in the form
  • 150words per answer at most
  • 23 Mar 2024GS replaced GTE
  • No penaltyfor planning permanent residence

The four questions

  1. Your circumstances. Family, community, employment and economic ties in India, and anything that explains your timing.
  2. Why this course, this provider, Australia. What you know about the course content, the university and the city, and what studying and living there involve.
  3. How the course benefits you. The job or the next step it leads to, and why this qualification rather than another.
  4. Anything else relevant. Gaps, a change of field, a previous refusal, or a course that also exists in India.

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  • GS answers, visa timing and your 485 plan
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Writing answers that work

Each answer gets 150 words, so specifics beat adjectives: the name of two subjects in the course that match your work, the role you held for three years, the salary step the degree leads to, the reason a regional campus suits your budget. Every claim should be checkable in a document you attach. If you change field, say why in one plain sentence and show the link, for instance a commerce graduate who has worked in data reporting applying for a master's in data science.

Where Indian applications go wrong

Copied or agent-written answers that read like everyone else's, a course two levels below a degree you already hold, a cheap course with no link to your career, and finances that appear in an account a few weeks before lodging. The refusal rate for Indian offshore applicants rose sharply at the end of 2025, so these points carry more weight than before; see refusals.

Questions from Indian students: Genuine Student requirement

What are the Genuine Student questions?
Your current circumstances (ties to family, community, work and finances); why this course with this provider in Australia and what you know about studying and living there; how the course will benefit you; and anything else relevant. Applicants who already held a student visa, or who apply in Australia on another visa, answer an extra question.
Can I attach a separate GS statement?
Home Affairs prefers the answers in the form itself, in English, within the word limits, rather than an attached statement.
Will saying I want permanent residence hurt my application?
No. Home Affairs states that an intention to apply for permanent residence later does not count against you under GS. What matters is that study is the main reason for this visa.
What evidence supports the GS answers?
Transcripts and certificates, employment records for the past twelve months with an employer reference, evidence of a job offer after the course, income tax returns or bank statements, and, if a similar course exists in India, your reasons for studying it in Australia instead.
Why are GS answers refused?
Answers that could fit any course or country, a course unrelated to your education or work without explanation, unexplained gaps of more than two months, or a story that the documents contradict.

Sources we checked