Coalition vows $5000 visa fee for international students at sandstone universities
The Coalition’s plan to increase international student visa fees by thousands of dollars will make Australia’s application costs the most expensive in the world, renewing concern that foreign students are being used as cash cows in a political debate over immigration.
On Sunday Opposition Leader Peter Dutton unveiled his party’s policy to cap international student numbers at 240,000 arrivals – a reduction of 30,000 more than Labor’s scheme, which the Coalition rejected. Extra cuts would be directed at Group of Eight institutions such as Sydney and Melbourne universities.
Peter Dutton has promised to cap foreign students, and raise the cost of student visas. Credit: James Brickwood
Dutton’s announcement was made at a housing site in outer Melbourne, in an effort to frame deeper cuts to student numbers as a way to free up rental properties for Australians in Sydney and Melbourne.
International student numbers have been linked to Australia’s immigration debate since post-pandemic immigration rocketed to highs of 536,000 in 2022-23, before starting to stabilise this year.
Australian National University higher education expert Andrew Norton said the Coalition’s caps were likely to be more effective in reducing student numbers, but its policies were less fair.
“The visa application fee, in particular, is an unreasonable impost,” he said.
Labor lifted the visa application fee from $710 to $1600 last year – making it the most expensive student visa fee in the world – but the Coalition will raise this to $2500, and $5000 for students at the Group of Eight universities.
“That is a very big charge – basically tripling what it is now – and given they’re not promising any better service, it looks like a bad deal and quite discriminatory,” Norton said. “If you’re not successful, you don’t get any refund at all, and it makes it a gamble for students to spend so much money.”
The impact would be most significant on enrolments from less wealthy countries, such as India, Nepal and the Philippines, where applications have already dropped off after Labor’s fee rise.
Nepali student Roshana Khatri , 25, who is studying childcare, said the higher visa fee – paired with caps on working rights and the cost of living – would mean many students couldn’t afford to study in Australia.
“We cannot work much, so we need to afford rent and our expenses. It’s a little bit hard,” she said.
International student Roshana Khatri says the extra cost for student visas would dissuade students from studying in Australia.
The higher education sector criticised the Coalition’s policy on Sunday. Phil Honeywood, from the International Education Association of Australia, said there had been no consultation.
“To charge aspirational young people from our own region $5000 for a non-refundable student visa sends all the wrong messages from a supposedly welcoming study destination country,” Honeywood said.
“This measure alone will persuade students to steer away from Australia and apply to much more welcoming nations such as the UK and New Zealand.”
Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson said the plan risked Australia’s $51 billion international education sector and would deliver the Group of Eight universities a $1.2 billion hit, which was unfair when they contributed significantly to Australia’s research and development.
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton on the campaign trail on Sunday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen, James Brickwood
“Blaming international students for the housing crisis is flawed policy. It’s been called out by the Business Council of Australia, the Property Council of Australia and others,” she said.
But Dutton said the housing issue was more important than economic uncertainty.
“I want to make sure that we can get young Australians into houses. That’s really our main priority here,” he said.
“Now, the international student market is a great and lucrative market for the universities; they’ve made literally billions of dollars over the last few years.”
Student Accommodation Council executive director Torie Brown said universities should guarantee accommodation for all first-year international students.
Government analysis has found foreign students constitute about 7 per cent of the country’s private rental market but are concentrated in certain pockets: they comprise about 42 per cent of renters in the Sydney CBD, 18 per cent in the Melbourne CBD, fewer than 12 per cent in 16 other council areas, and fewer than 1 per cent in the 406 remaining council areas.
After Dutton announced the policy in outer-suburban Melbourne on Sunday, City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece said the city wanted more international students, not fewer.
“[This policy is] not helpful for our city’s economy. It’s not helpful for modern Melbourne as a young, dynamic, multicultural city which is reaching out to the world, not turning our back on it,” he said.
“The City of Melbourne and Greater Melbourne is well placed to accommodate more international students and the city has been engaging with the universities to increase student housing in the years ahead.“
Immigration expert Abul Rizvi said student caps were a blunt tool when used by either party and did nothing to improve overall quality of education.
Rizvi said the balance of the Coalition’s caps would allow more students into the private college and vocational education sector, which would be permitted to enrol 125,000 students compared with universities’ 115,000.
“The policy favours the sectors where the biggest rorts take place,” he said.
International student advocate Bijay Sapkota said international students were an integral part of Australia’s economic and cultural fabric and the plan could exacerbate the racism they faced.
Advocate Bijay Sapkota, a former international student.Credit: Peter Rae
“It shifts the blame for housing issues into vulnerable communities, like international students, again, who are already facing systemic challenges,” he said.
He said the visa fees could send potential students to competitor countries such as Canada, the UK and European countries.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.