Setback to overseas students: Australia doubles visa fee

Sydney: Serving a setback to foreign students, Australia informed us on Monday that the visa fee for international students has more than doubled. The fresh move is to check the rate of migration, which has been putting immense pressure on the already tight housing market, Reuters reported.

The new amendment is effective from July 1, hiking the international student visa from A$710 to A$1,600 ($1,068). Holders of visitor visas and students with temporary graduate visas are banned henceforth from applying onshore for a student visa, Reuters reports.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said in a statement that the changes are effective from Monday and will help restore integrity to Australia's international education system and "create a migration system which is fairer, smaller and better able to deliver for Australia".

Net immigration rose 60 per cent, reaching a record 548,800 people in the year, as stated in official data on Sept. 30, 2023.

The new change, hiking fees, is going to make it expensive for international students to get student visas in Australia, compared to competing countries such as the US and Canada, where the same costs around $185 and C$150 ($110), respectively.

The Australian government further announced that it is closing loopholes in visa rules that allow foreign students to continuously extend their stay in the country. This was after noting that the number of students on a second or subsequent student visa spiked by over 30% to more than 150,000 in 2022-23.

Following the lifting of COVID-19-induced restrictions in 2022, the annual migration statistics skyrocketed to record levels. In March, English language requirements were tight too.