The government of Australia has announced that the fee for student visas has increased to AUS$1,600, the latest measure in its series of migration policy reforms.
The new fee, which was implemented from today (July 1st, 2024) represents an increase of 125 per cent compared with the previous visa cost of AUS$710.
In a joint statement, the Minister for Home Affairs, the Minister for Immigration and the Minister for Education said that the increase “reflects the increasing value of education in Australia” and the government’s “commitment to restoring integrity in the international education sector”.
It said that additional money raised will help to fund initiatives including implementation of the Migration Strategy, which was announced in December last year, higher education loan reforms and financial support for apprentices and their employers.
Australia’s student visa fees have increased by 125 per cent.
Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, Clare O’Neil said they inherited a migration system that was broken and an education system that was “compromised by rorts and exploitation” and the reform was needed.
“This sector has the power to drive growth and opportunity for our country, but to get there, we’ve got to work with quality providers to clean it up,” she said.
“The changes coming into force today will help restore integrity to our international education system, and create a migration system which is fairer, smaller and better able to deliver for Australia.”
Early this year, international education stakeholders complained of unprecedented high student visa refusals, and StudyTravel Magazine’s recent analysis of student visa data up to April 2024 shows that the situation has only slightly improved since then.
Sector response to higher fees: Ian Aird, CEO of ELT peak body English Australia , said that the association did not support “this dramatic increase in the non-refundable student visa application fee”.
He said, “More than doubling the fee to more than four times the cost of a student visa for New Zealand, triple the fee for the USA, nearly double the fee for the UK, and nearly 10 times the fee for Canada is unreasonable and in bad faith. To apply this fee as a one-size-fits-all fee ignores the disproportionate impact it will have on shorter-stay students, such as those in ELICOS.”
English Australia is continuing to lobby for a differentiated student visa fee for shorter courses.
There was speculation earlier in the year that the student visa application fee would be increased in the government’s budget in May, following a report by public policy think tank the Grattan Institute, which called for fees to be increased to AUS$2,500.
At the time of the anticipated increase, Phil Honeywood, CEO of the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA), said the group would oppose anything above a CPI-indexed increase because if would make Australia uncompetitive. “As the fee is non-refundable, it will be hugely inequitable for the large numbers of students who are having their visas rejected,” he said.
And Simon Costain , General Manager of International Business Development at Nexted Group, which operates a portfolio of educational institutions including Greenwich College Australia and the GO STUDY AUSTRALIA agency chain, said that with rejection rates so high, increasing visa fees would “effectively steal money from hundreds of thousands of students they never intended to let into the country”.
The increase in student visa fees is the latest in a series of reforms to student visa policy, which include the introduction of the Genuine Student Test and higher English language requirements for student visas; the shortening of post-study work rights and a reduction in the age eligibility; and an end to ‘visa hopping’, stopping visitors and graduates from applying for student visas onshore.
And the government has also announced its intention to limit student enrolments in higher education in a Bill submitted to parliament.
Ian said, “Coming in the context of record high visa refusals and delays, many English Australia members have contacted me to voice the view that this government does not want international students and does not support the sector or those employed in it. In the context of so many changes this government has introduced and the Bill before Parliament, it’s hard to argue with this.”
