Australia Has Raised Its Visitor Visa Fee by 25 Percent, and Indian Travellers Have No Cheaper Alternative

From 1 July 2026, Australia's Department of Home Affairs raised the application charge for the Visitor Visa, subclass 600, from A$200 to A$250 for the standard tourist and business streams when applied for from outside Australia, a 25 percent increase introduced under the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2026. The change applies across the board rather than to a specific nationality, but its practical effect falls unevenly, since not every applicant has an alternative to the subclass 600 fee.

Why this lands harder on Indian travellers

Australia offers two cheaper visitor visa pathways alongside the standard subclass 600: the eVisitor (subclass 651), open only to passport holders from the European Union and a handful of other European countries, and the Electronic Travel Authority (subclass 601), restricted to nine specified passports that don't include India's. Indian citizens are required to use the subclass 600 pathway regardless of trip length or purpose, which means the full A$250 fee, plus any card-payment surcharge, applies to essentially every Indian applicant rather than a subset of them.

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What else changed

The July increase was part of a broader round of Australian visa fee adjustments in the 2026 financial year affecting multiple visa categories, including student and post-study work visas, though the subclass 600 change is the one most directly felt by short-term tourists. Applications lodged from within Australia, such as an extension or a change of status, carry a separate and considerably higher charge under the same fee schedule.

What it doesn't change

The visa's processing time, validity period and eligibility requirements are unaffected; only the government application charge itself has risen. Fees paid through third-party visa agents will also include their own service charges on top of the government fee, which travellers should budget for separately.

Traveller tips

• Apply for the subclass 600 visa directly through the Department of Home Affairs' ImmiAccount to pay only the official government fee, without an agent's added service charge.
• Budget for a card-payment surcharge on top of the A$250 base fee, which varies slightly by payment method.
• Processing times can run to several weeks during peak travel seasons, so applying well ahead of a planned trip remains advisable.
• This article reflects the fee schedule in effect from 1 July 2026; confirm the current charge on the Department of Home Affairs website before applying, as visa fees are reviewed periodically.