As an international student studying in Australia, you must have health insurance. It is a required component of your student visa to have Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) for the duration of your studies. You must have a OSHC before you come to Australia so that you’re covered as soon as you arrive. Your OSHC policy must come from a registered heath insurance company, which is commonly known as health funds.
Your OSHC provides cover on medical and hospital care costs which you may need while in Australia. It will also help cover prescription drugs and emergency ambulance transport.
Certain scholarship holders are eligible for OSHC free of charge. Please contact our SIBT Student Administration team to see if you are eligible.
You will need to purchase the standard OSHC single, dual family or multi family (for spouse or dependents) cover. Please consider your health needs carefully and select the most appropriate level of cover for you.
International students also need to obtain Overseas Health Cover for the duration of their studies in advance of arriving in Australia. Students can expect to pay approximately A$594 per year of study (2017).
Click here for information and rates for Allianz, our recommended OSHC provider.
If your OSHC expires, you must renew it immediately as you must have a current OSHC as part of your student visa. If you decide to extend your visa, then you must also renew your OSHC for the remaining period of your visa.
Due to an agreement between the Australian and Belgian governments, Belgian students are considered to have met ‘adequate insurance’ requirements on the basis of the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement between Australia and Belgium. This means that, if you’re a Belgian student, you don’t need to take out OSHC for your visa requirements.
Due to an agreement between the Australian and Norwegian governments, all Norwegian students are provided with adequate health insurance by the Norwegian government. Norwegian students are waived the compulsory OSHC visa requirement.
For Swedish students, if you’re covered by CSN International (the Swedish National Board of Student Aid) then you won’t need OSHC. If you’re not covered by CSN, then you’ll need OSHC.
Please contact our Student Administration team if you require any assistance with OSHC.