Recently, one of our clients went through a truly “counter-intuitive” Australian PhD student visa renewal — with a dependent spouse — and was not required to pay any additional visa application fee at all.We’re sharing the entire process here. For those unfamiliar with PhD visa renewals, this experience might easily make you think the system was broken, documents were lost, or even cause serious self-doubt. Hopefully, this will help current or future PhD students, especially those renewing together with their spouse.

I. Client Background: PhD Visa Renewal + Spouse Included

• Primary applicant: PhD student
• Secondary applicant: Spouse (dependent)
• Visa type: Subclass 500 Student Visa (Higher Degree by Research)
• Situation: The client had already submitted their PhD thesis and was waiting for final examination results. The existing visa was approaching expiry, so a renewal was required to cover the remaining post-submission period.

Key point: During this renewal, no additional visa application fee was requested.

II. The Most Surprising Part: System Displayed “AUD 0”

• Primary applicant: AUD 0
• Dependent spouse: AUD 0
• Total cost: AUD 0

Under certain circumstances, PhD student visa renewals may indeed require no additional fee, particularly when:Renewing from the same visa subclass to the same subclass，No new CoE is issued，The academic pathway is continuous and uninterrupted，Seeing AUD 0 in the system is possible — and not necessarily a system error.

III. Bridging Visa Applied Manually — but “Nothing Happened”

Given the original visa was close to expiry, we proceeded very cautiously:

•  Student visa application already lodged
• Prior study timeline affected by COVID-related delays
•  Applicant physically in Australia
• Dependent spouse included
•  In theory, a Bridging Visa A (BVA) should be granted automatically
• To be safe, we manually applied for the BVA.

Then we waited.

•  No update in ImmiAccount
•  No email notification
•  System status completely unchanged
• The manually applied BVA also did not appear.

And yet — nothing negative happened either:No refusal，No request for further information，No warning，Just… silence.

IV. The Turning Point: Medical Completed → Visa Granted ImmediatelyThere was only one real trigger point in the entire process:

👉 Completion of the health examination

Once the medical was done — on the same day or shortly thereafter — the visa was granted directly.

No additional documents requested
No further questions
No “under further assessment” status，Just a straight approval.

V. Key Takeaways for PhD Students

1. PhD Visa Renewal ≠ Always Requires a New Fee

when

• Same degree pathway, no new CoE
• Normal extension due to thesis submission or examination timing
• Clear and consistent academic progression

If the system shows AUD 0, it may be completely valid.

2. Bridging Visas Don’t Always Provide Immediate Feedback

• The system applies coverage automatically
• The case waits for a key requirement (such as medicals)
• No update ≠ something is wrong.

Don’t let the silence panic you.

3. 3. Medical Examination Is Often the Final Trigger

For PhD student visas:

• The medical is frequently the last missing piece
• Once completed, the case can be finalised immediately

If your application has:

• Complete documentation
• A clear academic pathway
• No risk factors

A “same-day grant” is genuinely possible.