• Tweet
• Sharebar

• Tweet

December 1, 2011 – Attention Australia student visa applicants? Australia visa fee for students is expected to lessen; however, other Australia immigration fees are set to increase.

Overseas students are now facing lower Australian visa application fees as Australian visas for students are set to be discounted by 5 per cent from the start of next year. However, these same overseas students may be stung with some other fee increases as other immigration to Australia charges affecting international education is also set to rise.

This drop of visa to Australia for students’ application fees is made as part of the Australian government’s attempt to shore up and increase the competitiveness of Australia’s international education sector, according to Immigration minister Chris Bowen.
Currently, the cost of applying for student visa for Australia is at $565 but with the reduction plan by the start of next year, it will be reduced to $353.

However, along with the planned reduction, new fees for dependents and higher fees for Australia skilled visa applications were set. These new fees are increased costs that may be incurred by overseas students.

Currently, dependents who come out with a student have no visa application charge. However, dependant adult with access to part-time work rights will now be charge at 75 per cent of the student visa charge while the fee for dependent children will be set at 25 per cent.
Meanwhile, the cost for a range of skills and business visas is also set to increase by between five per cent and 15 per cent.
The 485 temporary skilled graduate visa is set to be at $315 from $270.

Moreover, an increase of the cost of living is set to be applied to the “majority” of visa application fees from July 2012. However, the student visa will not be among these. Likewise, there will be no change in the postgraduate research students’ visa charge.

According to Treasurer Wayne Swan, these fee changes were made in order to ensure that taxpayers were no longer subsidizing visa costs without damaging the competitiveness of the export education industry.

The new visa fee changes are expected to generate about $613 million over four years.

source:
theaustralian.com.au