Starting July 1, 2024, Australia has made it more expensive to apply for a student visa. The fee has jumped from $710 to $1,600.
This is a huge increase of 125%, making Australia the priciest place for student visa applications. In comparison, the United States charges around $185, and Canada charges about C$150 (which is about US$110).
The Australian government says they did this to help control the high number of people moving to Australia, which is making housing harder to find.
Understanding the Change
Education is very important to Australia. In 2022-2023, international education brought $36.4 billion to the country’s economy.
But, with so many people coming to study, the government wants to make sure the system can keep going strong without too many people moving in all at once.
This new visa fee is just one way they are trying to balance the number of international students with the space and resources Australia has.
Furthermore, people on visitor visas and temporary graduate visas can no longer apply for student visas while they are in Australia. This is to make sure the visa rules are not being taken advantage of.
Important Details
If you have family members coming with you, they will also have to pay more. Each family member over 18 years old will need to pay $1,445. Those under 18 will need to pay $390. This is to help manage the costs of supporting family members while studying.
The government has also raised the amount of money international students need to show they have. From May 10, 2024, students need to prove they have at least $29,710. This is 21% more than before when they needed $24,505.
This amount is also $5,000 more than what Canada requires. The government says this is to make sure students have enough money to live on, which matches 75% of Australia’s minimum wage.
They are also closing loopholes that let students stay longer than their visas allowed. Too many students were getting second or more student visas; over 150,000 did this in 2022-2023. The government wants to stop this and make the rules stricter.
Previously, it was reported that between 2015 and 2019, over 10,000 Nigerian students were accepted into Australian universities.
Why This Matters
Clare O’Neil, Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, said these changes are made to keep the education system honest and fair, and to make it easier to manage how many people are moving to Australia.
These actions are meant to keep getting the benefits of international education, while making sure the number of people coming in doesn’t get too high for the country to handle well.
Everyone will be watching closely to see how these changes affect students, universities, and the rest of Australia. The government’s goal is to keep the good parts of international education going, while making the immigration rules fair and sustainable.
The next few months will show if these plans work out well for students, schools, and the whole country.