Post-study visa fee doubles as Canberra battles ‘integrity risks’

Grant rates for South Asian visa applicants have plummeted, and fees for post-study work visas have doubled, as the Australian government ramps up its campaign against inauthentic foreign students.

Applications for visas to undertake higher education studies Down Under have increasingly been rejected since the federal government highlighted escalating “integrity risks” in the subcontinent in November.

Grant rates over November, December and January – the latest month for which data is available – have plunged by 18 percentage points on average for applicants in India and 22 percentage points for those in Nepal and Bangladesh, compared with the same period a year earlier.

The three countries are Australia’s second, third and sixth top source markets respectively for overseas students. In January, the success rate for degree-level students applying from Nepal fell to 53 per cent – the lowest level in almost 30 months, down from 95 per cent in August.

Julian Hill, the assistant minister for international education, said the government had responded to “an unsustainable spike in non-genuine students” from some parts of the subcontinent.  

“I know there’s conspiracy theories that that’s all because of government policy,” Hill told the Universities Australia conference in Canberra last week. “It’s not; it’s an application of the genuine student entry test.”

Meanwhile, the government has doubled the application fee for temporary graduate visas allowing international students to stay and work in Australia.

The price hike, imposed without warning on 1 March, raises the fee to A$4,600 (£2,430). Similar visas cost about £139 in Canada, £743 in New Zealand and £880 plus health insurance expenses in the UK.

The doubling of Australia’s fee reflects Canberra’s desire to usher overseas students out of the country more expeditiously after they have completed their courses. Applications for temporary graduate visas this financial year are on track to exceed the 2023-24 record of about 145,000.

Record numbers of former international students are also challenging adverse immigration decisions in the Administrative Review Tribunal. By the end of January, the backlog of appeals against student visa rejections had reached almost 50,000 while another 2,600 appellants were waiting to overturn refusals of temporary graduate visas.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (Capa) said the fee hike placed an “unfair financial burden” on international graduates who were already battling “significant” living and study costs.

“[It] sends a clear message that international graduates are being treated as revenue sources rather than valued contributors to Australia’s workforce and society,” said Capa president Jesse Garden-Russell. “Graduates finish their studies hoping to gain work experience here, contribute to their fields and build networks – not to be hit with unpredictable, punitive costs.”

The complaint was echoed by contributors to a discussion thread on the Reddit social media platform. “International students are a cash cow to be exploited,” one said. “Gotta either accept that or reinvest energy elsewhere as it isn’t going to change any time soon.”

But others said the price hike was a legitimate effort to discourage visa scams. “A good majority of students are economic migrants,” one said. “There is a lot of gaming of the system. Prior notice of said increase [would have been desirable] but financially and logically it makes sense for the government to do it.”

The increase is the third in 13 months. The fee for temporary graduate visas rose from A$1,945 to A$2,235 in February 2025 and then to A$2,300 in July.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com