Skip to Main Content
About Us Apply Now Contact Us
Site Search 360
About Us Apply Now Contact Us
Student in library

Underage Students

At Hawthorn-Melbourne, we have special structures in place to protect the welfare of students who are under 18 years of age. These are extra to our commitment to caring for every Hawthorn-Melbourne student with our range of advice services and academic resources.

Student visa holders

If you are applying for a student visa and you are under 18 years of age, you must have adequate welfare arrangements in place while you are in Australia. Further information about this requirement is available on the Department of Home Affairs website at Welfare and custody arrangements for students under 18

For your studies at Hawthorn-Melbourne, you have two accommodation and welfare options.
You must let us know your preferred accommodation and welfare arrangement when confirming the enrolment.

1: Live with your parent or legal custodian or suitable relative as approved by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA).

A parent, legal guardian or suitable relative can apply for a Student Guardian visa. You will need to submit the Nomination of a student guardian form 157N when applying for the student visa.

For this option, a relative is a:

  • parent or step-parent
  • grandparent or step-grandparent
  • sibling or step-sibling
  • aunt, uncle, step-aunt or step-uncle

For full details, please refer to Welfare and custody arrangements for students under 18

For this option, Hawthorn-Melbourne does not need to issue a Confirmation of Appropriate Accommodation and Welfare (CAAW) letter.

2: Live in a Accommodation approved by Hawthorn-Melbourne (students aged 14-18 years only).

If you do not have a suitable relative to care for your child in Melbourne, you can nominate Hawthorn-Melbourne as the official guardian. This option is only available to students aged 14 – 18 years.

For this option, your child will be placed with a registered host family by a Hawthorn-Melbourne approved Homestay Provider. We will issue a Confirmation of Appropriate Accommodation and Welfare (CAAW) letter. You must present the CAAW letter to the DHA when you apply for the student visa.

The CAAW will start 7 days before your child is scheduled to start their course at Hawthorn-Melbourne. It will end 7 days after the enrolment end date or on your child’s 18th birthday, depending which comes first. The DHA will issue your child’s visa according to the CAAW dates. Your child must not enter Australia before the welfare arrangements start.

If your child is planning to study at another institution after Hawthorn-Melbourne, you may need multiple CAAW letters. There cannot be a gap in the CAAW dates.

You may want to nominate a homestay family yourself. A parent-nominated homestay family must be registered. For more information, please contact: accommodation@hawthornenglish.vic.edu.au

Other visa holders

Some students come to Hawthorn-Melbourne with different visas, including visitor visas, tourist visas and temporary resident visas. If a student under 18 is travelling on a visa other than a student visa, we cannot provide homestay accommodation or meet them at the airport.

If your child does not have a student visa, you will need to provide us with:

  • the name, address and contact details of the student’s guardian while they are in Melbourne, whether they are a family member or friend
  • the name and address of the student’s accommodation while they are in Melbourne, which may or may not be the same as the guardian.

Please provide these details as part of the Hawthorn-Melbourne application process.

If you do not have family or friends in Melbourne to care for your child, there are independent, experienced companies that provide these services. These include:

Guardianship Services

Homestay Placement

More information

For more information on our services for students under 18, please contact the Hawthorn-Melbourne accommodation office.

accommodation@hawthornenglish.edu.au
+61 3 9815 4033

Back to Top