Planning your arrival
Things you need to do before you leave, from confirming your visa to finding accommodation, packing and booking an airport pick up.
Planning your arrival
Once you've been accepted into one of our Melbourne degrees, you'll want to start planning your move to a new city and university. This includes things like confirming your visa, finding a place to live, budgeting for living, organising an airport pickup, and packing all the essentials.
To help you plan, here are some of the things you’ll want to do before you leave:
Organise your health care cover and visa
Overseas Student Health Cover
You need to arrange your Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) before you can receive your student visa.
It could be the University of Melbourne preferred provider (Bupa) or your own choice of provider.
Find out more about getting OSHC
Student visa
Once you've been accepted into a Melbourne degree, organised your OSHC, and received your CoE, you can apply for your student visa.
To find out about student visa requirements in Australia, visit Department of Home Affairs – Studying in Australia
Are you Under 18?
If you're under 18 you'll also need to make appropriate accommodation and welfare arrangements as a condition of your visa – before you arrive in Australia.
Find accommodation
There are many options available to international students, including living in a Residential College, student apartment, private rental, hostel, share-house, homestay or temporary accommodation.
University Accommodation
If you're a first year undergraduate moving to Melbourne, you may be eligible for University Accommodation. This offers guaranteed beds to eligible students in student apartments for the first year of their studies.
Temporary accommodation
If you prefer to wait until you arrive in Melbourne to secure your long-term housing, we recommend you arrange temporary accommodation before departing your home country.
There are a range of hotels and hostels you can choose from that offer temporary accommodation close to our Parkville campus.
Attend the Welcome to Melbourne: International students webinar
All commencing international students are invited to attend this online event, designed to support your transition to studying at the University of Melbourne.
Book an airport pick up
You need to book your airport pickup three business days before you arrive.
If you're commencing your first semester at Melbourne, you can book a free pickup from Tullamarine airport for when you arrive.
This is a 24 hour service run by TOGOTO from Tullamarine airport to the CBD (Central Business District), Parkville and surrounding areas. It does not run from Avalon airport.
You may have to pay additional costs if you need to travel further.
How to book
You can book airport pick up online. You need to do this three days before you arrive.
Fees may apply if you're travelling to further areas, have additional passengers, or request airport pickup but don’t use it on arrival. If you're coming with two people or more, it may also be cheaper to take a taxi from the airport (about A$55).
Pack for every season!
In Victoria we have four seasons, so make sure you bring clothing for every kind of weather. Refer to the Bureau of Meteorology to see what kind of weather to expect when you arrive.
Some student accommodation will already be furnished, so you won't need to bring much. Some may require you to bring linen, so ensure you check this before you book.
If you need to furnish your room in a share house or private rental, you can organise this when you arrive. You can find helpful resources on what to do in our accommodation area.