Australian visas to cost more from 1 July 2017

Treasurer Scott Morrison, in his budget speech, announced that visa fees will be indexed in line with inflation to generate $410 million over the next four years.

This means, from 1 July 2017, the fee for all the visas will rise in line with the forecast Consumer Price Index and become more expensive.

Visa fees will be indexed annually and rounded off to the nearest $5.

The indexation only applies to the 1st instalment of the visa application fee for both primary and secondary applicants. Indexation does not apply to the second instalment of the visa fee.

The student visa fee for the primary applicant will rise $10 and cost $560 instead of $550. An adult dependent applicant will have to fork out $420 after 1 July 2017, up from $410.

Visas under the Employer Nomination and the Regional Sponsored Migration Schemes will cost $70 more at $3670, instead of $3,600.

Partner visa fee is also rising from $6,865 to $7,000.

Check the old and the new visa fees

visa fee
Visa fee

 

The government has announced a new temporary sponsored visa for parents of migrant Australians will be available from November 2017. A 3-year visa will cost $5,000 and a 5-year visa will cost $10,000.

Treasurer Scott Morrison also announced an annual foreign worker levy of $1,200 or $1,800 per worker per year on temporary work visas. Employers sponsoring permanent skilled visas will face a $3,000 or $5,000 one-off levy.

Small businesses with a turnover of less than $10 million will have to pay an annual levy of $1,200 for sponsoring a foreign worker’s temporary visa and a one-time charge of $3,000 for a permanent skilled visa.

For medium and large businesses (with over $10 million turnover) the levy is $1,800 per year and a one-off $5,000 for a temporary and a permanent visa respectively.

Over the next four years, $1.2 billion will be raised from this levy that will contribute directly to a new Commonwealth-State Skilling Australians Fund.

States and Territories will only be able to draw on this fund when they deliver on their commitments to train new apprentices.

Courtesy of  SBS – Shamsher Kainth