The Australian government has again significantly increased visa application charges for international students. These increases were lodged in Parliament last night to be active from today to ensure applicants did not get a chance to apply quickly at the ‘lower’ fee.
ELICOS has been exempted from the main increase. Applications for ELICOS and Non-Award Programs will increase by $50 to $2,050.
The student visa application charge for Higher Ed, VET, and School course applications and packaged visas culminating in one of those courses has increased from the world’s most expensive student visa application charge at $2,000 to $2,500.
The sector woke to this news this morning. Having been on the phone to members much of the day, it is important to acknowledge the frustration, disappointment, even heartbreak that many of our members are feeling at this news.
For many months English Australia has pointed to the government’s own data showing that the increase in the student visa application charge from $710 to $1,600 on 1 July 2024 caused a 38% drop in student visa applications for Independent ELICOS.
The second visa application charge increase to $2,000 as of 1 July 2025 led to a fall of another 25%. Combined with record low student visa grant rates for Independent ELICOS, this has resulted in 2025-26 seeing the lowest number of applications for Independent ELICOS on record, 24% below 2005-06 numbers.
This represents the loss of more than 20 years of investment in the sector by educational institutions and businesses, by individuals investing in their professional development and making Australia a world leader in English language teaching, by our state governments, and by consecutive federal governments for decades before this current government. Ultimately, we know this represents members losing livelihoods.
To study English for 4 or 5 months – the average length of an ELICOS enrolment in Australia – in one of the other key ELICOS destinations, including USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Malta, etc, an applying student will pay a visa application charge of between 1% and 60% of the Australian student visa application charge.
Government’s decision to not apply the full increase to ELICOS applicants is an acknowledgement that English language students the world over have already made clear that the $2,000 application charge has made Australia unattractive as a destination. Students have simply stopped applying to study in Australia.
By increasing the student visa application charge for ELICOS by $50, the government has signalled that it is able to differentiate the visa application charge by sector, despite having stated multiple times over the last 18 months that this was not possible, that the government’s computer systems were not able to manage it.
However, it also signals that this government does not wish to address the damage done to the ELICOS sector by charging the highest visa application charge in the world, even though so many Australians have and continue to lose their jobs due to this fee increase.
No announcement was made of the decision to hike these visa fees – a decision clearly reached weeks if not months ago. There was no discussion with the sector to consider the likely impacts of these changes. The Explanatory Memorandum to the legislative instrument introducing these visa charge increases states that government viewed consultation outside government as not necessary.
The recent federal budget included a forecast increase in revenue from visa fees (a single combined item) but explicitly stated that this was from the March increase to the Temporary Postgraduate visa (subclass 485) and the increase to the Passenger Movement Charge.
The Explanatory Memorandum to the legislative instrument introducing these visa charge increases states that the increases were discussed within government as part of the Budget process. No explanation has been given as to why the government failed to mention these substantial changes to visa income in the Budget Papers themselves.
English Australia views these visa fees as unreasonable and akin to rent-seeking. Unreasonably high fees have a significantly negative impact on Australia’s global reputation, making Australia appear unwelcoming and exploitative to international students.
English Australia will continue to advocate for student visa application charges to be lowered and brought into line with the fees charged by other countries around the world, such as the USA, Canada, United Kingdom all of which charge a dramatically lower visa fee. English Australia will also continue to advocate for visa charges that are commensurate with the length of stay.
As always, I encourage members to get in touch to discuss these changes and the impact they will have on you, your institution, your colleagues, and your communities.
