Hello hello! I have a feeling that future TAB students are exploring these pages and looking for answers to all sorts of questions, so hopefully I can answer at least a few of them. If you’ve attended any TAB interest sessions, then there’s a chance you heard about something called a Blue Card, which is required to volunteer in schools in Australia. Here’s a few things to know.
- It’s basically the equivalent of a Police Information Check that Canadian students need to complete their practicums in Canada.
- You will apply for it once you land in Brisbane, and luckily the host professor is very helpful with the whole thing.
- THIS IS REQUIRED FOR YOU TO VOLUNTEER! (don’t worry, it’s doable)
Acquiring your Blue Card is a multi-step process and its hard to find information about it online, so it can definitely be a bit confusing or even intimidating. My caveat to everything that I’m writing is that this is MY experience in 2026, who knows what it’ll look like in the future, but hopefully it clarifies things!
- Within the first few days of arriving to Brisbane, our host professor conducted an orientation day at Queensland University of Technology, where she got us student IDs.
- In order to receive an ID, we needed proof of identification in the form of a Canadian passport (or driver’s license, but to be safe I would have a passport).
- Once we received our student IDs, we walked over to the Department of Traffic and Main Roads to receive our CRN. A CRN is a Customer Reference Number which, in this case, acts as proof that you are a real person in Australia (closest thing we can get to a form of Australian ID).
- In order to apply for this we needed: Two forms of government issued ID, an Australian address, and an email address.
- We told them we needed a CRN to apply for a Blue Card for volunteering in schools. The staff were incredibly friendly and super helpful! Within a few minutes we had received a CRN number via email.
- Upon receiving a CRN we clicked the link in the email which led us to a site where we could make an account to apply for a Blue Card. While we were doing this, we got an account number, but could not yet fully apply for the card.
- Make note of your account number, even though you can’t apply yet. You’ll need it for later on.
- At this point our Blue Card accounts were made, but we would’ve had to pay to get a Blue Card, an no one wants to do that. This meant that we had to go back to QUT, get in touch with their Student Support Hub (Hi-Q), and they helped us connect our Blue Card account to our QUT account.
- To do this, we just had to send an email to the right people with the right information (including our Blue Card account number). Pretty simple once we knew what we were doing!
- After that, I got an email from QUT confirming they linked my account with my Blue Card account, then I got an email from my Blue Card account saying QUT confirmed I was a student (a bit of an unnecessary back and forth) and FINALLY, with that, I could log into my Blue Card account and finish applying.
- Within a few days I got a digital confirmation that I had been approved for a Blue Card, and 21 days after that confirmation I’ll receive my physical card in the mail!
Was it a bit of a hassle? Yes. Is it doable? Yes. Ultimately, you don’t have to stress about it beforehand because it will all get sorted out once you arrive in the country. In the meantime, stress about something more fun, like what weekend trips you want to take if you end up coming here!