Working while you study in Australia: pay, tax and your rights at work

Many international students in Australia take a part-time or casual job. Before you accept a shift, know the minimum pay, how tax and superannuation work, and where to get help. Every figure below comes from official Australian Government pages checked on 3 October 2026, and rates change every year.

First, check that you are allowed to work

• Student visa limit: you can work up to 48 hours a fortnight while your course is in session, and unlimited hours during scheduled course breaks. Students who have started a master's by research or a doctorate have no work-hour limit. Breaching the limit can lead to visa cancellation. Check your conditions in VEVO.
• MoHE scholarship students: Ministerial Decision 197/2025 (Article 4, duty 17) requires you to study full time and not take a job during your studies. MoHE may allow training linked to your major. Ask the Kuwait Cultural Office before you accept any work. Other sponsors set their own rules.

Minimum pay

• Most jobs are covered by an award, which sets the minimum pay for that industry or occupation. Use the Fair Work Ombudsman's free Pay Calculator to find your award rate.
• If no award or registered agreement covers you, the National Minimum Wage applies. From the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, for employees aged 21 and over it is:
• $26.44 an hour, or $1,004.90 a week, for full-time and part-time employees;
• $33.05 an hour for casual employees. This includes a 25% casual loading.
• If you are under 21, lower junior rates may apply.
• Casual or part-time? Part-time staff work regular hours (fewer than the 38 a week of full-time staff) and get paid leave in proportion. Casuals have no firm commitment to ongoing work and get a casual loading instead of most paid leave, notice and redundancy pay.

Tax file number (TFN)

• A TFN is your reference number for tax and super. Applying is free.
• Student visa holders with work rights can apply online through the ATO's Individual Auto-Registration system. You must already be in Australia and give an Australian postal address.
• The ATO posts your TFN by letter, which can take up to 28 days.
• You don't have to have a TFN, but without one your employer must withhold more tax from your pay.
• You can open a bank account without a TFN, but your bank must then withhold more tax from interest it pays you.

Paying tax: are you a resident for tax purposes?

• The ATO says overseas students enrolled in a course of 6 months or more may be Australian residents for tax purposes. This is separate from your visa status, so use the ATO's residency tool to check.
• Residents pay tax at the same rates as other residents and get the tax-free threshold. For 2026–27, the first $18,200 of taxable income is tax-free for a full year, and you get part of it if you are here for only part of the year.
• Foreign residents don't get the tax-free threshold. In 2025–26, their tax started at 30 cents per dollar from the first dollar.
• If you are an Australian resident for tax purposes and also a temporary resident, most of your foreign income, for example from Kuwait, is not taxed in Australia.
• If you lodge your own tax return, you have from 1 July to 31 October to do it.

Superannuation

• Your employer must pay superannuation ("super") of 12% of your qualifying earnings into a super fund. This applies to full-time, part-time and casual staff, including temporary residents.
• If you are under 18, super is only required in a week when you work more than 30 hours.
• After you leave Australia and your visa ends, claim your super, minus tax, as a Departing Australia superannuation payment (DASP).

Your rights at work

• Visa holders have the same workplace rights as every other worker, and a contract cannot take them away.
• Your employer cannot cancel your visa; only Home Affairs can. Contacting the Fair Work Ombudsman will not get you into trouble or cause your visa to be cancelled.
• The following are not acceptable: unpaid "trials" longer than needed to show your skills, unpaid training or meetings, and cash-in-hand pay without tax taken out.
• You must get a pay slip within one working day of pay day. Check it shows tax and super.
• The Government has introduced two Home Affairs pilots (the Strengthening Reporting Protections Pilot and the Workplace Justice Visa Pilot) for eligible visa holders pursuing a workplace exploitation claim. See Fair Work's visa protections page for how they currently apply.

Where to get help

• Fair Work Ombudsman: call 13 13 94, or use its online enquiry form or anonymous report form.
• Interpreter: for a free interpreter, call the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) on 13 14 50 first. Fair Work also has information in Arabic.
• Tax and super: contact the ATO.