Covid-19 Advice for International Students

This advice is specific to International Students during the Covid-19 pandemic:

The Coronavirus (Covid-19) infection is affecting almost every country around the world. In order to avoid confusion, ICMS has outlined the following advice and recommendations for our international students. This advice aims not only to safeguard the health of students, but also to help students to comply with their visa conditions.

We are grateful that at the time of writing this Australia remains one of the safest places in the world in terms of the number of cases of COVID-19. We also have an excellent healthcare system.

At ICMS we currently have no known cases within our community.

Australian Government decisions have been effective to date and at each stage, ICMS is following their advice which is currently as follows:

• The Australian Government is directing everyone in Australia not to travel outside of Australia. If you do travel outside Australia and then reenter the country, you will be required by the Australian Government to observe a 14-day self-isolation period. At ICMS we also ask you to provide a ‘fit-for-work’ medical certificate from an Australian doctor before returning to any ICMS campus or facility.
• Any international student leaving the country for an extended period of time during study periods will be in breach of visa conditions which may result in their student visa being cancelled.
• Preparations are already underway to move study to online delivery during this period, if necessary. Virtual classrooms are currently being tested.
• We have already made study arrangements for the students who have been affected by travel restrictions and are unable to attend campus. All other students will be expected to attend classes on campus until such time as they are notified otherwise.
• A temporary switch to online study may be necessary in the near future. If this happens we will be ready. This won’t be a permanent change. International students enrolled at ICMS will be required to remain in Australia to access the online subject support in each of their enrolled subjects. Any student who returns to their home country to study online will breach their student visa conditions.
• If any international student leaves Australia, they leave themselves open to the possibility of being denied re-entry.

With the exception of Study Abroad students, our advice to international students is to stay in Australia. In many cases this will be safer than travelling overseas but it also means compliance with student visa conditions.

We should remind you that all international students in Australia have access to Overseas Health Cover. This means in the unlikely event that you need to visit a hospital, your health coverage is the same as that of an Australian citizen. Australia has one of the best healthcare systems in the world.

We understand this is a difficult time for everyone. ICMS will continue to closely monitor the situation and provide regular updates.

Further resources for international students

For any questions please contact:[email protected]

Allianz Insurance have a dedicated a page on how Covid-19 impacts Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) on their website.

The descriptions and contact details of many organisations which provide mental health services are listed on the Mental Health Australia website.

Other resources, for students and the sector, include:

COVID-19: Information for universities, higher education and vocational education facilities, their students and staff

COVID-19: Information for VET, ELICOS and higher education providers

COVID-19 resources in Simplified Chinese

Novel coronavirus FAQs for international students

Smartraveller.gov.au for the latest travel advice