International students will soon face higher visa application fees under proposals announced by both major parties ahead of the upcoming election.
Yesterday, Labor pledged to raise the international student visa fee from $1,600 to $2,000 if re-elected. Meanwhile, the Coalition has outlined an even steeper increase, proposing a $5,000 application charge for students attending Group of Eight universities and $2,500 for students enrolling at all other institutions.
The proposed increases form part of broader election costings, which detail how each party plans to fund the policies and commitments made during their campaigns.
Both parties’ plans are likely to spark strong reactions from universities and international education stakeholders, with concerns about the potential impact on Australia’s appeal as a global study destination.
Phil Honeywood, CEO of the International Education Association of Australia, says “After the Coalition’s campaign announcement of $2,500 to $5,000 non-refundable visa fees, it was clearly too tempting for Labour to hike up their own charges schedule from $1,600 to $2,000.”
“The only concession is that at least Labor have given me a commitment that they will sit down and talk about IEAA’s Election Platform’s call for a 50% reduction in study programs of less than 12 months duration particularly ELICOS and learning abroad. The other post-election conversation has to be about some of this visa revenue actually coming back to our sector for e.g international student welfare rather than being reallocated to entirely different program spending!”
Right, he is.
Felix Pirie, CEO of the Independent Tertiary Education Council of Australia (ITECA) says “Increasing the non-refundable visa application charge as has been outlined is incredibly disappointing.”
“Implementing a higher application charge is misguided. There doesn’t appear to be an overarching strategy or aim in this context, so it might be assumed it is a proposal that is purely revenue driven. In that case, it demonstrates a lack of understanding of the sector, the decision-making of students and the operations of the businesses that support them.”
Also right.
Ian Aird of English Australia commented, “The government claims this student visa fee increase will raise $760 million dollars for the government over coming years. It will cost Australian businesses that much next year alone in lost earnings.
“The fee increase from $710 to $1,600 last July has caused new student applications for student visas to study English to fall by 50%. Add in the record levels of visa refusals we have seen since the start of 2024 and today applications for ELICOS have fallen to their lowest point since 2005. Twenty years of investment wiped out.
“The last increase has already cost 1,000s of Australian’s their jobs, we’ve seen business go under. Another increase will see the job losses worsen. It will see businesses close and they won’t just be ELICOS colleges, it’ll hurt the hospitality and tourism sectors badly too. Students will just take their money and their tourism dollars to another country.
“Government needs to recognise that the average ELICOS student studies for less than 20 weeks. So, the total course fee might only be $5,000. A $2,000 non-refundable visa application fee combined with today’s visa application refusal rates for ELICOS making it tantamount to a dice roll, it’s crazy!
“Short courses like ELICOS must be exempted from this increase. They must be given a much lower fee,” Aird added.
Aird also pointed out, “The maths on this is a bit questionable, they’ve said the fee increase will generate another $760 million. That would require 1.9 million visa applicants which, at the current number of applicants per year, would take 5 years. But the last increase saw applications fall significantly, except for students applying to the big universities. So, unless Labor plan to significantly increase the number of international students studying at our major universities to make up for the plummeting numbers in the other parts of the sector, that $760 million in extra funds is likely to take a lot longer than five years. Meanwhile, the government can look forward to plummeting export earnings, significant job losses, and brain drain from the education sector as educators go offshore in search of jobs, not to mention the sluggish tourism and hospitality sectors. None of this adds up!”
