- Student visa grants for Indian applicants dropped seventy-five percent in June twenty twenty-six compared to the previous year.
- Applicants from Nepal and Bangladesh faced even steeper declines, with grants falling over eighty-nine percent for both nations.
- The Australian government increased the student visa application fee to two thousand five hundred dollars on July first.
Australia's Department of Home Affairs data released in late July showed student visa approvals for Indian applicants falling sharply in June 2026. Indian grants dropped 75% from June 2025, and only 46% of higher education visa applications from India were approved. The slide was abrupt.
The losses were not confined to one market. Grants to applicants from Bangladesh fell 89% year on year, while Nepal dropped 94%. Across higher education, grants fell 16% in the 2025-26 financial year. The pressure spread.
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The department had already put India in the "Highest-Risk" category under the Simplified Student Visa Framework on January 13, 2026. That designation brought more rigorous financial checks and tighter Genuine Student verification. Scrutiny rose.
Officials had been signaling a harder line before the June data landed. The new framework put more weight on whether an applicant could show enough funds and a credible study plan. The approval bar moved.
Applications did not collapse first. They were still 10% higher than pre-pandemic levels, even as grants fell across higher education. That left more people competing for fewer approvals. The gap widened.
India was pushed into the highest-risk category
| Place or measure | Change |
|---|---|
| Indian grants, June 2026 vs June 2025 | 75% lower |
| Indian higher education approval rate, June 2026 | 46% approved |
| Bangladesh grants, year on year | 89% lower |
| Nepal grants, year on year | 94% lower |
| Higher education grants, 2025-26 financial year | 16% lower |
| Application volumes vs pre-pandemic levels | 10% higher |
The fee increase came next. On July 1, 2026, the student visa application charge rose to A$2,500. A Home Affairs spokesperson said the changes would help ensure the migration system operates "in the national interest" and maintains integrity in the education sector. The bill got bigger.
Those moves landed in the same month as the steepest country-level falls in the data. India took the hardest hit, but Bangladesh and Nepal also saw sharp drops. The department's late-July release put the pattern in numbers.
