ELECTION promises made on both sides of the political aisle to raise visa fees on international students could see up to half of prospective education visitors dump Australia as a destination.
According to a report in the Australian Financial Review, warnings from experts suggest that one of the country’s largest export sectors could collapse if visa charges are raised again.
Australia has been cautioned not to follow the path of Canada, which raised fees by close to 5% and capped study permits, seeing a significant decline in student numbers last year as a result.
Cementing this view is a recent survey by global student recruitment firm IDP Education, which found 42% of overseas students who scrapped plans to study in Australia last year were influenced by the previous hike in visa fees from $710 to $1,600.
In the lead-up to tomorrow’s federal election, Labor has pledged to increase fees to $2,000 on 01 Jul if re-elected, while the Coalition will raise visa charges to $2,500 for study at most universities if they can dislodge Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“The additional real risk to high fees and high visa refusal rates is that sudden or dramatic shifts in policy lead to unwelcoming messaging which will damage
our destination brand,” IDP Head of Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement Joanna Storti said.
“We risk deterring the very people we want to attract – genuine, high-quality students who contribute meaningfully to Australia’s economy, communities and future,” she added.
Former Accommodation Australia CEO Michael Johnson told sister title Travel Daily last year that the association would be watching carefully to see if the first round of fee increase force students to go elsewhere.
“At the moment we have about 725,000 international students studying in Australia, which is approximately 100,000 more than we had pre-pandemic,” he said.
“I think from the government’s perspective, they have indicated they’re looking to see it go back to levels prior to the pandemic,” Johnson said last year.
“I think the concern is if student numbers drop below that, then we will find ourselves with worker shortages again.”
A major drop-off in student numbers could be disastrous for Australia’s tourism sector, which relies heavily on student workers to plug staffing gaps.
