The visa fee for international student visas applying to study in Australia is to increase from AUS$710 to AUS$1,600 from 1 July.
The price hike, which had been mooted but not officially announced until now, is another hammer blow to a sector in crisis.
Sector commentators predicted the obvious: that this would deter some students from applying and they would consider other destinations instead.
Stakeholders working in language schools pointed out they were particularly vulnerable to students voting with their feet.
“This makes Australia the most expensive country for visa applications, likely deterring many prospective students,” commented Surya Pokhrel of Educable Consultancy Nepal.
At Lexis English, Ian Pratt said the news was being seen by many English language schools as another factor making business untenable.
“While students considering a two year Masters course may reluctantly stump up this outrageous visa fee, it’s hard to imagine anyone taking a relatively short English course being prepared to do so,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to a number of English schools today that have spoken of the latest change as being ‘the final nail in the coffin’.”
Three ministers announced the fee rise, with Home Affairs minister Clare O’Neil making it clear in her statement the plan to downsize the sector.
“The changes coming into force today will help restore integrity to our international education system, and create a migration system which is fairer, smaller and better able to deliver for Australia.”
While many of the recent changes in Australia are taking aim at “shonky operators”, there was no further explanation as to how higher visa fees would help improve integrity issues.
Nonetheless, Brendan O’Connor, minister for skills & training, weighed in too: “Australia has a world-class education sector, one that draws international students from around the globe – so we need to make sure all students are getting the quality of education they pay for.”
Nishi Borra of AAERI, posting on LinkedIn, commented, “From $ 710 to now $ 1600 makes student visa application fee very very expensive than any other country.
“This is a clear rip off. While not sure how it will restore integrity of international education system, how it’s much fairer.”
Melanie MarFarlane of MM Migration and Recruitment spoke to The PIE. She said, “While I fully support the migration strategy I think this could create an elite class of students who are predominantly from China.”
“It’s an idealistic proposition that you’ll get quality students because they’ll pay higher fees.”
Ravi Lochan Singh of Global Reach said simply, “The reasoning for this is totally misplaced.”
He continued, “It simply will create more hardship and makes Australia less welcoming to international students without actually reducing NOM.”
Indian and Nepalese offshore students are currently facing significant visa refusals of around 40%, observed Lochan Singh.
“We have also seen that refused visas on reapplication (when allowed by the institution) do get an approval too,” he said.
“However such students will now think twice before reapplying. This is unfair since unlike onshore visa applicants, offshore applicants have no option to appeal a visa outcome.”
