International student visa fees hiked 125% to pay for HECS and paid prac reforms

As of midnight Sunday, the Australian government increased the amount international students have to pay to apply for a student visa from $710 to $1600, a 125 per cent increase, without warning.

In a statement released Monday morning, ministers said the changes would add to the swathe of migration reforms designed to fix a "broken system."

Before the hike, Australia was already one of the most expensive countries for international students to apply for, compared to $950 in the UK, $345 in New Zealand, $285 in the US and $170 in Canada.

Education Minister Jason Clare said the change will help fund the reforms being made to better support domestic students.

“These changes will strengthen integrity in the international education system and help to fund important reforms recommended by the Universities Accord, including making HECS fairer, paid prac and expanding FEE-Free Uni Ready courses," he said.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said the Albanese government inherited an international education system that was dysfunctional.

“This sector has the power to drive growth and opportunity for our country, but to get there, we’ve got to work with quality providers to clean it up," he said.

“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.”

International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood said on X the increase was exploitative.

I can’t believe that, coming on top of the recent policy impacts on our sector, the Govt have today decided to increase non-refundable student visa fees from AUD $710 to $1600! This will make Australia more than double the cost of other countries. This is exploiting young people!

— Phil Honeywood (@PhilHoneywood) June 30, 2024

The federal government last year approved for 577,300 international students to enter Australia in 2024. There have been 330,500 approved correct to May this year.

International student cap legislation was announced in May by the home affairs minister, which, once legislated, will allow the education minister of the day to set a maximum number of overseas students individual universities can enrol.

The controversial legislation framework also introduced reforms that would:

• Cap the number of foreign students institutions can enrol over a particular period of time.
• Prevent education providers from owning education agent businesses
• Pause enrolments to both international education providers and providers of new courses for 12 months to assess their legitimacy
• Cancel dormant provider registrations
• Require new providers to demonstrate a quality track record to domestic students before they can begin enrolling international students
• Prohibit providers under serious regulatory investigation from recruiting new foreign students
• Ban education provider agents from making commissions off students who transfer between institutions or providers (an incentive that fuelled the actions of many shonky operators pre-crackdown)

The reforms follow a crackdown on overall migration into Australia, which peaked in 2023. High levels of migration have been cited for adding to cost-of-living and housing pressures, especially in cities.

Many research-intensive universities and independent education providers have opposed the reforms, stating the blame international students for domestic economic problems will diminish Australia's standing on the international education stage.

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