Australia doubles foreign student visa fee in migration crackdown


The Australian Government announced on Monday that it had more than doubled the visa fee for international students.

According to Reuters, the latest move by the government is to rein in record migration that has intensified pressure on an already tight housing market.

From July 1, the international student visa fee has risen to A$1,600 ($1,068) from A$710.

Meanwhile, visitor visa holders and students with temporary graduate visas are banned from applying onshore for a student visa.

“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,” Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said in a statement.

Official data released in March showed net immigration rose 60% to a record 548,800 people in the year to Sept. 30, 2023.

The rise in fees makes applying for a student visa for Australia far more expensive than in competing countries like the U.S. and Canada, where they cost about $185 and C$150 ($110) respectively.

The government said it was also closing loopholes in visa rules that allowed foreign students to continuously extend their stay in Australia, after the number of students on a second or subsequent student visa spiked by over 30% to more than 150,000 in 2022–23.

The latest move follows a raft of actions since late last year to tighten the student visa rules as the lifting of COVID-19 curbs in 2022 boosted annual migration to record levels.

English language requirements were tightened in March, while the amount of savings international students need to get a visa was raised in May to A$29,710 ($19,823) from A$24,505, the second increase in about seven months. (Newswire / Reuters)

Related News

img

ACCA celebrates 120 years and counting

Helen Brand OBE, chief executive of ACCA and Nilusha Ranasinghe Head of South Asia for ACCA Global accountancy body marks major milestone…

Read More
img

Victory for ANC Education on UN World Human Rights Day

The Capital Maharaja Group (CMG) held its third consecutive year of Inter University Human Rights Debates this year.  This witnessed private and…

Read More
img

SLIIT achieves historic success and shines as star performerat 26th National ICT Awards – NBQSA 2024

SLIIT achieved historic success and shone brightly as a star performer at the 26th National ICT Awards - NBQSA 2024, held recently.…

Read More
img

Triple Championships for Gateway College in Football

Gateway College Colombo once again demonstrated their dominance in the recently concluded Under-20 Inter-International Schools Football Tournament, held at Gateway College Ratmalana from…

Read More
img

Fastest growing international exam board OxfordAQA appoints Country Manager for Sri Lanka and the Maldives

Panchalika KulatungaCountry Manager,Sri Lanka and the Maldives - OxfordAQA OxfordAQA — a partnership between Oxford University Press, a department of the University…

Read More

Courses