{"id":774139,"date":"2026-07-02T11:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/774139\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:18:14","slug":"visa-fees-increase-without-warning-sparking-outrage-and-disappointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/774139\/","title":{"rendered":"Visa fees increase without warning, sparking outrage and disappointment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Qiu Long was outraged when he discovered the price of a graduate visa had been quietly hiked overnight, just months after the government had already doubled the fee.<\/p>\n

The Chinese international student, who recently completed his Diploma of Hospitality Management in Melbourne, said all his classmates were in shock.<\/p>\n

In March, the government doubled the cost of the Temporary Graduate Visa (Subclass 485) from $2,300 to $4,600. The fee jumped to $5,750 earlier this week \u2014 which students said came without warning.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mr Qiu paid $63,000 in tuition fees and related costs for two certificates and one diploma to become eligible for a post-graduate work visa. (Supplied: Qiu Long)<\/p>\n

“The increase in March was already painful, and now it’s gone up by more than $1,000. I feel like the government is robbing people using visas,” the 34-year-old told the ABC.<\/p>\n

“People are anxious about what surprising policy change might hit next.”<\/p>\n

The temporary graduate visa was among dozens of visa categories that became more expensive from July 1.<\/p>\n

Among the most notable changes, the fee for the Resident Return Visa (Subclass 155) rose sharply from $490 to $1,475, while Bridging Visa B increased from $190 to $575 \u2014 both surging by more than 200 per cent.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the cost of a Partner Visa jumped from $9,365 to $11,710.<\/p>\n

Experts say visa fee increases would have been accounted for as part of the federal budget.<\/p>\n

Abul Rizvi, former deputy secretary of the Department of Immigration, said that would be why there was no formal announcement in the lead-up to the price increase.<\/p>\n

“The government doesn’t want a rush of applications ahead of the date the fee increase takes effect, so they only announce it on the day,” Dr Rizvi said.<\/p>\n

‘Treating me like a cash cow’<\/p>\n

Many international students have taken to social media saying they have been exploited.<\/p>\n

“Australia, you really are treating me like a cash cow!” one user wrote on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote.<\/p>\n

“When will the Home Affairs list on the stock market? I really want to buy its stock because it’s a sure-fire money maker,” another user jokingly said.<\/p>\n

\"Rizvi<\/p>\n

Abul Rizvi believes increasing application charges will not improve the integrity of the visa system. (ABC News: Krishani Dhanji)<\/p>\n

For Mr Qiu, who arrived in Australia in 2024, the latest increase was yet another financial blow.<\/p>\n

He had already paid nearly $63,000 in tuition fees and related costs for two certificates and one diploma \u2014 and that’s not including living costs.<\/p>\n

But Mr Qiu said he will not give up his plan of staying in the country.<\/p>\n

“I’ve come too far and sunk too much cost already. Giving up now would mean quitting halfway,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It just means I’ll have to work even harder and grit my teeth to save more money.”<\/p>\n

The International Students Representative Council (ISRC) said major changes had been made repeatedly to international student visas “with little or no notice” over the past three years.<\/p>\n

“The problem is not only the amount. The deeper issue is the way these decisions are being made,” the council said in a statement.<\/p>\n

They said student representatives had not been consulted.<\/p>\n

“A country cannot market itself globally as a welcoming education destination while repeatedly imposing sudden and substantial costs on the very students it seeks to attract.”<\/p>\n

Trapped in ‘stressful’ situations<\/p>\n

Iris Verbaant has lived in Australia for 13 years with her partner and their three-year-old-son.<\/p>\n

She is currently on a bridging visa and has been trying to apply for a partner visa.<\/p>\n

Last week she was informed via email that her visa application had been deemed “not valid”, and that her application fee had been fully refunded.<\/p>\n

She said now she must restart the entire application, which required “tonnes of documents” to be verified, at the new price of $11,710.<\/p>\n

“I don’t understand why it costs that much, and then where is the money going?” she said.<\/p>\n

As a bridging visa holder, she said she was not eligible to apply for any loans and credit cards despite facing ongoing cost-of-living pressures.<\/p>\n

She said her visa status also prevented her from returning to the Netherlands for important family occasions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Many international students have expressed dissatisfaction with the sudden increase in visa fees.
\n\u00a0 (Reuters: Loren Elliott\/File)<\/p>\n

Ms Verbaant, who works as a marketing manager, said her son has special needs but was not eligible to access NDIS services because she, as his main carer, was not a permanent resident.<\/p>\n

“The system is really stressful, and it doesn’t make sense,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It seems like the country doesn’t want me anymore even though I contribute to the economy and community in every way possible.<\/p>\n

“We just want to be treated as humans, not just numbers,” she said, adding that temporary visa holders also needed “security and certainty”.<\/p>\n

‘Rising fees won’t fix the system’<\/p>\n

Migration lawyer Sean Dong said the latest round of fee increases was far beyond the usual annual adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).<\/p>\n

“I think this has something to do with the current anti-immigration political mood in Australia,” Mr Dong said.<\/p>\n

“Home Affairs needs more budget, and in the current political climate, squeezing money out of visa applicants carries relatively low public backlash, so I think that’s why they made that choice.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sean Dong believes the decision to raise visa application fees is linked to the recent anti-immigration sentiment in Australian politics. (ABC News: Lachlan Bennett)<\/p>\n

Dr Rizvi said the immigration system faced three major risks: missing the net migration target, a backlog of partner visa applications and a significant increase in unsuccessful asylum claims.<\/p>\n

“And I don’t think this fee increase addresses any of them,” Dr Rizvi said.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the ABC, a Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said the government was “reforming the migration system to ensure it operates in the national interest.”<\/p>\n

“It is standard departmental practice not to announce VAC changes ahead of implementation,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“The cost of visas remains a small proportion of the overall costs of visiting or migrating to Australia.<\/p>\n

“Australia remains an attractive destination, and Visa Application Charges (VAC) increases are unlikely to materially affect demand for most visas.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Qiu Long was outraged when he discovered the price of a graduate visa had been quietly hiked overnight,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-774139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}