Visa application charge trajectory in Australian dollars<\/title>\n Student visa subclass 500 charges: 710 dollars pre July 2024, 1,600 dollars from July 2024, 2,000 dollars from July 2025. Temporary Graduate subclass 485 charges: 2,300 dollars from July 2025, 4,600 dollars from March 2026.<\/desc>\n\n Visa application charge trajectory (AUD)<\/text>\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n $0<\/text>\n $1k<\/text>\n $2k<\/text>\n $3k<\/text>\n $4k<\/text>\n $5k<\/text>\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n $710<\/text>\n $1,600<\/text>\n $2,000<\/text>\n $2,300<\/text>\n $4,600<\/text>\n\n \n 500<\/text>\n pre-Jul 24<\/text>\n 500<\/text>\n Jul 2024<\/text>\n 500<\/text>\n Jul 2025<\/text>\n 485<\/text>\n Jul 2025<\/text>\n 485<\/text>\n Mar 2026<\/text>\n\n \n \n Student visa (500)<\/text>\n \n Temporary Graduate (485)<\/text>\n <\/svg>\n
Base primary applicant charge by commencement date. Source: Department of Home Affairs charge schedule.<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n
None of this caps a number. It prices behaviour. And the government has said openly that a different charge for short duration study is on the table, with no decision made. Read that as a decision deferred, not declined.<\/p>\n\n
There is a second edge to price that gets less attention. The charge is non-refundable, so a refusal is still revenue. I broke the numbers down in a past article. In 2024-25 the student visa program raised around $683 million in application charges, and roughly $123 million of that came from refused applications. As refusal rates climb, a larger share of the take comes from people who never receive the visa. A rising refusal rate does not cost the government. It earns more per lodgement.<\/p>\n\n
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Key figure<\/p>\n
$123 million from refusals<\/p>\n
Out of roughly $683 million the student visa program raised in application charges in 2024-25, because the charge is paid whether the visa is granted or refused.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n
So the honest answer to the question everyone is asking. Yes, expect more. The student and 485 streams have been the test bed for price as policy, and from the Treasury’s point of view the test has worked. The next increase does not need a new idea. It needs a budget cycle.<\/p>\n\n
The 485 visa<\/h2>\n\n
The 485 was sold as the bridge from study to skilled migration. At $4,600, plus dependant charges, plus a shrinking list of eligible qualifications and a tighter age limit, the bridge is narrowing while the toll rises. The visa still exists. The proposition it was built on is being dismantled by increment.<\/p>\n\n
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The 485 in context<\/p>\n
$4,600 to apply<\/p>\n
The most expensive post study work visa anywhere: about twice the United Kingdom, three times New Zealand, and ten times Canada for a comparable visa (ICEF Monitor, March 2026).<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n
Watch this stream for the next removal rather than the next price. Dependants are the obvious target. The cost has already been used to discourage them. Exclusion from eligibility is the version of that lever that has not been pulled yet.<\/p>\n\n
Dependants: should they get visas?<\/h2>\n\n
The net overseas migration argument keeps circling back to dependants on student and graduate visas. I covered the data on this last week. It does not support the loudest version, the one that targets short coursework. The larger and rising dependant population sits on the 485, not the short course student visa. If a removal comes, the defensible place to start is the graduate visa, and that is the stream already absorbing the cost signal.<\/p>\n\n
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