International students can board at Australian schools that are registered on CRICOS and willing to accept overseas boarders. Under-18 students need an approved welfare arrangement. This page is orientation, not immigration advice.
Definition
An international boarder is a student on a student visa whose welfare and accommodation are arranged through a CRICOS provider — often the school’s own house, sometimes a homestay.
Official links
What this site will not do
We will not quote a visa rule as if we were the Department of Home Affairs, and we will not invent an overseas fee. Use official sources, then the school.
CRICOS is the first filter
Not every Australian boarding house can enrol an overseas student on a student visa. The provider must be registered on CRICOS for the course. Check the official register and the school’s international prospectus. A card on this directory is not a Confirmation of Enrolment and not evidence that the house is taking overseas boarders this year.
If a family friend says “they take internationals”, verify the code anyway. Codes change. Courses get added and removed. We will not invent a CRICOS number to make a profile look complete.
Welfare if the student is under 18
Students under 18 need an approved welfare arrangement — a parent, a relative who meets the rules, or the school’s CAAW pathway. Homestay can be part of a welfare arrangement and still not be a boarding house. Ask the international office which product they are offering: a bed in the school house, a homestay, or a mix by year level.
This page is not legal advice and not immigration advice. If the visa, the welfare letter and the house handbook disagree, stop and ask the school and a registered professional. Do not let a directory paragraph decide a visa.
Boarding versus homestay
A school house means on or beside campus, with a house programme on weekends. Homestay means a host household and a different Saturday. Fee documents differ. Do not compare a domestic boarding PDF with an overseas homestay + day-place package and call it the same quote. See international fees.
English, guardianship and first term
Some schools run ELICOS or EAL programmes; some expect a minimum English score. Confirm before you apply. Guardianship and airport transfers are operational questions — who meets the aircraft, who holds documents, what happens if a connection fails. Ask them in the first email.
Research only
Boarding Schools Australia does not enrol overseas students, issue CoEs, or act as an education agent. Contact the school’s international office. Use Study Australia and the CRICOS register. School names are listings, not endorsements.
Agents and this directory
Some families use a registered education agent. That is a separate professional relationship. This website is not that agent. We will not recommend an agent and we will not take a placement fee. If an agent cites this directory as if it were an official list, correct them: it is an independent map.
Confirm the school still accepts overseas boarders in your year. Confirm the house, not only the day school. Confirm welfare. Then apply through the channel the school names.
Research only. Contact the international office.
What the international office actually issues
A Confirmation of Enrolment, if they accept you, comes from the registered provider. A welfare letter, if they accept an under-18 student, comes from the pathway they name. A house bed, if they have one, comes from the boarding office — sometimes the same people, sometimes not. This website issues none of those documents.
Agents can help some families navigate forms. They can also reverse the honest order and sell a photograph first. If an agent cites this directory as an official list, correct them. It is an independent map of public campuses. It is not a government register and not a placement service.
Homestay is not a failed boarding house
It is a different product. Some schools use homestay for a year of English, then offer a house. Some never offer a house to overseas students. Some offer only a house. Ask which product is on the table for your year. Do not let a domestic boarding photograph stand in for an overseas welfare arrangement.
Airport transfers, who holds passports, and what happens if a parent cannot travel are operational questions. Put them in the first email. A “we will look after them” sentence is not a welfare letter.
Research sequence
- Confirm the course on the CRICOS register.
- Read Study Australia for the official student-visa orientation.
- Ask the school whether they accept overseas boarders in your year.
- Ask whether the product is a house, homestay, or a mix.
- Request the international fee schedule and the refund clause if a visa is refused.
- Apply through the channel the school names.
This page is orientation. It is not immigration advice, not insurance advice, and not an education-agent service.
Research only. Contact the international office.
Boarding versus homestay
| Compare | School boarding house | Homestay |
|---|---|---|
| Where the student sleeps | On or beside campus. | In a host household. |
| Weekend culture | House programme. | Host-family programme. |
| Fee document | Overseas boarding package. | Tuition plus homestay contract. |