By the end of May this year, 330,500 student visas had been approved, a figure comparable to 2016 levels and significantly lower than the 577,300 approvals recorded in 2022-23. Despite this, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pledged to cut migration numbers to alleviate housing affordability issues and ease the burden on city infrastructure and services.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil stated that the increased fees would contribute to reforming the international education sector. “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,” Ms O’Neil 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.”

Migration expert Abul Rizvi criticized the decision as “really poor policy,” arguing that it would not effectively deter those with determined but dubious intentions to enter the country on a student visa. “This is really poor policy as it will do little to deter students who struggle to get into university in their own countries or into one of our competitors, but it will deter those high-performing students who may have options,” Dr Rizvi said. “This is shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Australia already ranks as the second most expensive major student market in terms of visa application fees, with hopeful students paying $345 in New Zealand, $285 in the US, $170 in Canada, and $950 in the UK.

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