[T&M]

Application charges for some Australian visas are going up on 1 July 2018.

The government is hoping to generate $410 million dollars over a four-year period from 2017 to 2021.

In partner visa applications, the prospective applicant will now need to pay $7,160 instead of $7,000.

The fee for Business Innovation and Investment (Subclass 188 Provisional) visa in the Premium Investor stream will record the highest hike of $190. Applicants will now have to pay $8,770 instead of $8,580.

 

[MuntinMia]

Crazy amounts of money, i remember the first time i walked into a dept of Immigration office in the late 90's and thought how strange it was that they have a "we accept Visa card" sign in the window...i thought to myself - why would anyone need a credit card at immigration?

 

[CCMS]

The first partner visa I lodged cost about $ 1250.00. Even that was a lot of money at the time. It seems though that people have simply got used to the fact that now it is $ 7160.00. It’s all relative though. Some people spend more than that on tattoos or poker machines !

 

[Skybluebrewer]

Or smokes and booze...

 

[wrussell]

But not on registered migration agents!

 

[taco]

But not on registered migration agents!

LOL

To be honest, I can't blame the government. Australia is a popular country for migration and even with the fees as high as they are there are still plenty of people applying, including some who are not genuine. If the fees were too low I would imagine many more speculative applications would be made, so this at least acts as a bit of a deterrent.

Sucks for people like me though who have been on the fence for ~10 years now but always deciding to hold off for now....

 

[Mania]

But not on registered migration agents!

I don't know about that, it's not far off what I've spent.

 

[WilliamL]

The increase isn't as much as when they first changed the partner visa main applicant. I remember when it was AUD3500 for the main applicant and within 12-18 months it had become AUD7000...

 

[ampk]

The increase isn't as much as when they first changed the partner visa main applicant. I remember when it was AUD3500 for the main applicant and within 12-18 months it had become AUD7000...

Yep was a fairly large increase and also started to charge for kids, then bang almost $7,000 main applicant + kids.

 

[f_t_f]

The first partner visa I lodged cost about $ 1250.00. Even that was a lot of money at the time. It seems though that people have simply got used to the fact that now it is $ 7160.00. It's all relative though. Some people spend more than that on tattoos or poker machines !

Same for me. Went through the process in late 2007 for around $1250 or so. Got a real shock when I went through the process again with my new partner, and had to fork over $7K. Obviously part of that is the loading of both temporary/permanent visa costs upfront, whereas before it was staggered... but still, a substantial increase - just because they can!