Australia’s government earned almost A$10 million (£5.3 million) from the overseas higher education students it turned away in March alone.

Nearly 4,800 would-be students who applied from their home countries were denied visas that month, according to the latest Department of Home Affairs data. Almost all of them relinquished the non-refundable A$2,000 visa application fee, which has risen from A$710 in mid-2024.

In total, the government collected almost A$65 million from students whose visa applications were processed in March, adding to a burgeoning revenue stream capable of funding services like the weather office or statistical agency.

International education analyst Keri Ramirez has calculated that visa application fees from students and their dependants earned the government about A$735 million last year, up from A$244 million in 2018. Most of it came from higher education applicants, who paid A$469 million in 2025 – almost quadruple the A$121 million they spent in 2018.

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Ramirez, managing director of the Studymove consultancy, said visa fee income now exceeded the annual budgets of agencies including the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian Trade and Investment Commission.

He said the scale of the earnings raised ethical concerns. While many countries taxed incoming students and tourists, they did so at the “entry point”, once applicants were guaranteed the “experience” they were seeking.

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While it was reasonable to expect them to cover the expenses of assessing their applications, this would cost perhaps a few hundred dollars. They should not be charged any more than this until their visas were granted, Ramirez said.

Migration expert Abul Rizvi also questioned the ethics of a rich country earning millions of dollars from the thwarted educational aspirations of its middle-income neighbours. “Increasing the visa fees [was] simply appalling policy,” said Rizvi, a former deputy secretary of the Department of Immigration.

“It was not just unethical; it was bad policy. We should be…in the business of attracting the best students, and cranking up the application fee will not help in attracting the best students.”

The success rate for higher education visa applications lodged offshore reached a record low in February, and sank lower still in March. Rizvi said it had plunged “predominantly for policy change reasons” rather than because officials were stamping down on unconvincing or fraudulent applications.

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He said the government had forecasted that net migration would fall to 225,000 next financial year, and “panicked” when it realised the goal was unachievable. “For the last four months, they’ve been cranking up rejection rates. Integrity is part of it, but in my view the primary driver is net migration.”

Rizvi said immigration officers were entitled to reject applicants who failed to provide evidence of funds to cover their living costs for the entirety of their courses, rather than just the initial year as specified in the visa eligibility criteria.

“It’s a policy discretion,” he said. “I don’t think the individual officers would just do it off their own bat. There would have to be some guidance given them to apply it more stringently. And I’m sure that guidance has been given.”

Grant rates for student visa applications lodged within Australia are far more stable, and generally higher, than for those lodged offshore. In March, 91 per cent of onshore applications for higher education visas proved successful.

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Ramirez said immigration officials may be treating onshore applications more generously because foreigners within Australia had appeal rights, unlike those applying from offshore. But onshore applications were also much easier to assess, he said.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com