Market intelligence for international student recruitment from ICEF
28th Apr 2025

Australia’s Labor Party signals an increase in student visa fees

Short on time? Here are the highlights:
  • Student visa application fees continue to figure in the 2025 Australian federal election
  • Following earlier proposals from the opposition Coalition, the governing Labor Party has now also said that, if re-elected, it too will raise visa fees later this year

Australians will vote in a federal election on 3 May 2025. The two main political parties contesting the election are polling within a few percentage points of each other, with the governing Labor Party edging ahead in recent polling.

Speaking at a joint news conference on 28 April, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher announced plans for a further AUD$1 billion in savings from pre-election forecasts.

Their revised outlook includes a plan to increase the application fee for an Australian study visa from AUD$1,600 to AUD$2,000. This move, the ministers estimate, will raise an additional AUD$760 million for government coffers over the next four years.

The planned increase echoes recent proposals from opposition leader Peter Dutton, who has said that, if elected, his Liberal/National Coalition Party will increase the student visa application fee to AUD$5,000 for applicants to Group of Eight universities and AUD$2,500 for all remaining international students.

Labor's planned increase in visa fees means that Australian student visas will remain the most expensive in the world. The current fee of AUD$1,600 was set in July 2024, and represented at the time a 125% increase from the previous fee of AUD$710. Leaving aside the prospect of any further increase, the current fee level considerably outstrips the visa fees levied by other major destinations. For example, the fee to apply for a Canadian study permit is CDN$150 (AUD$172), and students need US$185 (AUD$299) to apply for an F-1 study visa in the United States.

"We think that's a sensible measure that really prizes, I think, the value of studying here in Australia," said Minister Gallagher.

Needless to say, the prospect of any further increase is a serious concern for international educators in Australia, their international partners, and prospective students.

In its briefing for the Australian election, which pre-dates the Labor announcement this week, English Australia calls for:

"An urgent review of student visa application fees and the study rights of visitor and working holiday visa holders to regrow the short-term study market. In 2024, the government increased the student visa fee by 125%, making it double the UK fee, four times the USA fee, and nearly 10 times the Canadian fee. This has proven especially damaging to the ELICOS sector as the average student enrolment of less than 20 weeks makes the AUD$1,600 fee particularly disproportionate. The fee’s introduction was followed by an immediate and sustained fall in applications for ELICOS-only enrolments of approximately 50%. English Australia urges the government to move quickly to reduce the student visa fee for students applying for courses of less than one year to a fee of less than AUD$800."

Writing on LinkedIn, International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) CEO Phil Honeywood said, "At least we have a commitment from Labor that they will be open to discussion about visa fee reductions as per IEAA’s Election Platform which calls for a 50% discount for less than 12 months study programmes including English language and learning abroad."

For additional background, please see:

Most Recent

  • US institutions bracing for a challenging enrolment outlook for 2025/26 Read More
  • How the UK’s Agent Quality Framework will shape the future of agent training Read More
  • Dutch government walks back controversial measures to constrain English-taught degrees Read More

Most Popular

  • Which countries will contribute the most to global student mobility in 2030? Read More
  • Research shows link between study abroad and poverty alleviation  Read More
  • Beyond the Big Four: How demand for study abroad is shifting to destinations in Asia and Europe Read More

Because you found this article interesting

US institutions bracing for a challenging enrolment outlook for 2025/26 The Institute of International Education’s (IIE) twice-yearly snapshot surveys are always required reading for international educators. That is...
Read more
How the UK’s Agent Quality Framework will shape the future of agent training This article was originally published in the ICEF Academy Knowledge Hub and is reproduced here with permission. International...
Read more
Dutch government walks back controversial measures to constrain English-taught degrees In a 3 July 2025 letter to the Dutch parliament, Education Minister Eppo Bruins explained that the government...
Read more
New Zealand announces strong foreign enrolment growth along with a new international education strategy Following a post-pandemic surge in 2023, Education New Zealand (ENZ) announced this week that the country’s international student...
Read more
US issues corrected student visa data showing growth for 2024 while current trends point to an enrolment decline for 2025/26 In April 2025, we reported that foreign enrolments in the US had declined by -11% between March 2024...
Read more
Survey finds US institutions expanding agency engagement and focusing on new student markets AIRC (The Association of International Enrollment Management) and BONARD have just released a second edition of the State...
Read more
Canada’s language sector buffeted by policy changes in 2024 Amid reports of mounting job losses and programme cuts across Canadian education, the country’s language education providers are...
Read more
Canada: List of non-degree college programmes linked to post-study work rights has changed The Canadian government is continuing its policy of linking eligibility for a post-study work permit (PGWP) – at...
Read more
What are you looking for?
Quick Links