Renewing CRICOS approval

VETAB grants approval and recommends registration by the Commonwealth, for delivery to overseas students, for a period of up to five years. To maintain their status, providers must apply for re-approval and, where necessary, re-registration under the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF), three months before registration expires.

If you are a NSW RTO you must apply for renewal of registration by using VETAB Online Services. The login page provides the Renewal Application Guide to assist you with your application for renewal of registration as a training organisation as well as approval to provide courses to overseas students in NSW.  If you are an existing NSW RTO and wish to apply for initial CRICOS approval for the first time, you can request an integrated audit process.

Interstate RTOs seeking approval should complete the Application For Interstate RTOs To Provide Courses To Overseas Students In NSW.

Schools seeking CRICOS approval or re-approval should apply to VETAB at the time of registration/re-registration and accreditation/reaccreditation by the Board of Studies. Schools who wish to renew their CRICOS approval must complete the attached application form.

As with initial registration, providers wishing to renew their CRICOS approval must have read and be able to demonstrate compliance with the following legislation and guidelines:

• The VET Act 2005
• The ESOS Act 2000
• National Code 2007

CRICOS providers that are also RTOs must also demonstrate compliance with:

• AQTF 2007 Essential Standards for Registration
• AQTF 2007 Conditions of Registration

The AQTF 2007 documents, including the AQTF 2007 Users’ Guide to the Essential Standards for Registration, can be downloaded from training.com.au

When renewing CRICOS approval, providers must demonstrate that they are fully implementing all the requirements of the ESOS Act and National Code in a compliant and systematic manner. VETAB can not approve applications from providers with significant non compliances identified at audit. Please refer to the Renwal Application Guide for more information.

Applicants for CRICOS approval should be aware that they may be required to provide a National Criminal History Record Check.

There are no fees for renewing your CRICOS approval, with the cost of renewal included in the annual fee paid to VETAB.

Review scope of approval

Please review your scope of registration or approval before applying for renewal of approval. Please consider deleting from your scope any courses which have had no recent activity and any superseded or expired courses. Expired or superseded courses are only required to remain on scope to "teach out" enrolled and studying overseas students.

Adding TAA
if, when renewing your approval, you wish to have qualifications from the TAA04 training package added to your scope of CRICOS approval, you must submit a separate online amendment application. Please refer to the Renwal Application Guide.

What to do when you have an expiring accredited course on your scope

VETAB will send an email to NSW RTOs with VET accredited courses on their scope of registration six months before the courses expire.

Courses are usually accredited for a period of up to five years.  You may view the expiry date of the courses on your RTO scope by going into the View Current Scope section of VETAB Online Services and click on the name of the course. You may also check course expiry dates by accessing the National Training Information Service (NTIS) website at www.ntis.gov.au. All CRICOS providers can view their approved scope by checking PRISMS. No additional students can be enrolled in a course once it has expired.

When an accredited course expires a new replacement course with a new NTIS course code may be accredited. When a Training Package qualification is superseded and expires, a new replacement course and a new NTIS course code may be accredited/endorsed. Should you wish to continue delivering training and assessment services in that particular area to overseas students, you will need to apply to VETAB to amend your scope to add the new course or a replacement Training Package qualification.