Australia: STUDENT visa fees will be discounted by 5 per cent next year but other immigration fees affecting international education will rise.

Immigration minister Chris Bowen said this morning that the cut in the application fee for a student visa would increase "the competitiveness of Australia's international education sector''.

The student visa charge reduces from $565 to $353.

However, there will be new fees for dependents and higher fees for skilled visa applications as well as for those who apply for visas by paper when the electronic e-visa system is available. These are increased costs that may be incurred by overseas students.

At present, there is no visa application charge for dependents who come out with a student. For a dependant adult with access to part-time work rights, the new charge will be 75 per cent of the student visa charge and the fee for dependant children will be set at 25 per cent, a spokesman for the immigration department said.

The 485 temporary skilled graduate visa will rise from $270 to $315. It was not clear whether the application charge for a permanent independent skilled migrant visa also would increase.

A cost of living increase will apply to the "majority'' of visa application fees from July 2012. The student visa will not be among these, according to the mid-year economic statement. There will be no change in the visa charge for postgraduate research students.

The rationale for the changes, announced as part of Treasurer Wayne Swan's mid-year economic review, was to ensure that taxpayers were no longer subsidising visa costs without damaging the competitives of the export education industry.

The visa fee changes would generate about $613 million over four years. Full details of the new fee structure are yet to be released.

Also in the mid-year economic review, the government allocates $3.6m over four years to streamline the student visa system and underpin its integrity.

Measures include a new "double genuine" test for would-be students, a review of the risk assessment level system and post-study work rights for overseas students at university.

The federal immigration and education departments are to fund this cost through existing budgets.

source: www.theaustralian.com.au