Australia has slapped international applicants with a massive 25 per cent hike on student visa fees, raising the cost to AUD 2,500. However, short-term ELICOS language courses have been handed a much lower fee of AUD 2,050 amidst high visa rejection rates for Indian students.
Australia has officially hiked its student visa fee, from the earlier AUD 2,000 to AUD 2,500. The visa, also known as the subclass 500 application charge, had a 25 per cent jump. However, the Australian government announced a lower fee for students applying for English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS), which will be set at a lower AUD 2,050.
What is ELICOS?
ELICOS courses are brief, intensive English-language programs pursued by international students in Australia either independently or to meet criteria for a complete degree, and have not faced the full impact of the recent increases in visa fees.
Why is ELICOS exempted?
Due to the shorter duration of these courses, lasting only a few weeks or months in contrast to multi-year degrees, the government indicated that the reduced pricing structure directly corresponds to the brief length of ELICOS programmes. Immigration officials essentially accepted that a student registering for a short six-week language program should not incur the same substantial visa fees as an individual seeking a complete university degree.
Despite industry groups fervently advocating for larger concessions in light of falling student enrollment, the government adjusted the ELICOS visa fee from $2,000 to $2,050 rather than enforcing the significant 25 percent increase applied to other student categories.
Why does this matter for Indian students?
For many Indian students, ELICOS is often not the destination but a stepping stone to meet English-language requirements before joining a university or a vocational programme. A lower, more predictable visa fee at that stage matters, due to the increasingly expensive nature of the whole process.
Indian nationals made up around 17 per cent of Australia's international student population in late 2025, with more than 120,000 Indian students enrolled in the country. In February 2026, 40 per cent of Indian applicants for university study visas were rejected, reflecting a broader push to assess who counts as a "genuine" student.
The reduced ELICOS fee provides Indian applicants some relief in one aspect of a process that is becoming more costly and heavily scrutinized. However, it does not take into account the larger challenges facing the sector, including increasing expenses, tighter documentation demands, and high rejection rates. Such problems persist in influencing how and whether Indian students can succeed.
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