Australia’s visa fee for international students has more than doubled

International student visa fees are now about 10 times higher than places such as the US and Canada.

A day ago it cost $710, but as of the new financial year, the application fee for student visas to Australia is $1,600. Source: AAP / Darron Cummings

Key Points

• The fee for international students to apply to study in Australia has risen to $1,600 from $710.
• Student visa application fees in the US and Canada cost about $185 and $110 respectively.
• Unlike other measures to tighten student migration that start in July, this change hadn't previously been announced.

The cost for overseas students to apply to study in Australia more than doubled overnight, without warning.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil announced via a statement on Monday that the international student visa fee had risen by $890.

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

On 1 July, the fee rose from $710 to $1,600.

It comes at the same time that previously announced measures stopping visitor visa and temporary graduate visa holders from being able to apply for student visas onshore come into place.

"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," O'Neil said in her statement.

Data released in March by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed net migration rose 60 per cent to a record 548,800 people in the year to the end of September 2023.

The Australian government has been introducing measures in an effort to reduce the number of migrants coming to Australia, including those coming as students. Source: Getty / kate_sept2004

The rise in fees makes applying for a student visa for Australia far more expensive than in competing countries like the United States and Canada, where they cost about $185 and $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 per cent 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 restrictions in 2022 boosted annual migration to record levels.

International education is one of Australia's largest export industries and was worth $36.4 billion to the economy in the 2022-23 financial year.