The visa fee for international student visas applying to study in Australia rocketed from AUS$710 to AUS$1,600 as of July 1.

With costs to study in Australia now among some of the highest globally, leaders in international education pointed out the move is likely to deter overseas students from applying to Australian universities in favour of other popular study destinations.

Australia’s minister for home affairs Claire O’Neil said the policy would “help restore integrity to our international education system, and create a migration system which is fairer, smaller and better able to deliver for Australia”.

But the Group of Eight blasted the decision as a “blatant revenue-raising move masked as deterring low quality students” and “another nail in the coffin for international education”.

“Australia now has among the highest visa fees in the world. The current fee of AUS$710 is already more than double that of comparable nations (New Zealand AUS$344; Canada AUS$168; US AUS$283) and increasing this non-refundable application fee to AUS$1,600 sends entirely the wrong message to market,” it pointed out.

Its chief executive Vicki Thomson said the measure would only act as “a deterrent” to overseas students. “The recent crackdown on visa approvals has already sent a strong signal that we are not open for business,” she said.

It is death by a thousand cuts to our most successful services export sector

Vicki Thomson, Group of Eight

She added: “Yet again our international students are being used as cash cows to prop up the economy, the national research effort and now to fund other government initiatives.

“It is death by a thousand cuts to our most successful services export sector.”

Professor at Deakin University Ly Tran took to LinkedIn to brand the move “disheartening”.

 “I would say this shows how international students are both treated as cash cows and unwelcome. This damages and devalues, instead of increasing value, Australian international education,” she said.

And IEAA CEO Phil Honeywood said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he “can’t believe” the move.

“This will make Australia more than double the cost of other countries. This is exploiting young people,” he wrote.

Education Centre of Australia’s COO Gavin Dowling said the visa hike would make it difficult to attract a diverse range of students “because it’s just too expensive for many”.

“Universities and private institutions are united in thinking that the government is sending the wrong message by massively increasing the student visa fee,” he said.

And Lexis Education’s managing director Ian Pratt told The PIE News that the government appeared to be on a course to shut down the sector.

Universities and private institutions are united in thinking that the government is sending the wrong message by massively increasing the student visa fee

Gavin Dowling, Education Centre of Australia

“Pricing Australia at between double and 10 times the cost of most competitor countries – the only reasonable takeaway for the sector from this, coupled with all the madness of the last year, is that the government is setting out to effectively shut us down. To ask students to pay these absurd sums just to enter the ‘visa lottery’ scam currently being operated by the Department of Immigration is outrageous,” he added.

Meanwhile, Melanie MarFarlane of MM Migration and Recruitment told The PIE that the move to raise student visa fees was “reckless [and] shows a lack of understanding”.

It is an “idealistic proposition” to suppose that Australia would be left with higher quality international students because they would be willing to pay the inflated prices, she pointed out.

And Shayaz Khan of Bluesky Consultancy said: “If you want more integrity and [want to dissuade] people who want to work full time, this is not going to dissuade them – those who want to work full time will be willing to pay that amount of money.”

In April, multiple peak bodies in Australia had urged the government not to heed the recommendation of the Grattan Institute to up the visa fees.

At the time, ITECA chief executive Troy Williams said any such hike in the charge “would be consistent with the Australian government’s clear policy intent to reduce the size of the international education sector”.

“[The measure] would penalise overseas students wanting to take up study in Australia” and be a “job killer”, particularly in the vocational educational and training sector,” he added.