Migrant Money Machine

Australia has the highest visa application fees in the world and raked in $4.13 billion in 2024/25, our eighth highest federal revenue spinner.

The topic of unsustainable migration is boiling over in Australia. Is it a conspiratorial creation of a new voter bloc to underpin one-party rule for the incumbent government? Is it to appease the banking lobby to underwrite mortgage lenders or a nefarious attempt to dilute our culture? Or is it all or none of the above? In the middle of all the debate, have we mistakenly overlooked one other aspect - the usurious revenue being taken in on the back of this? It is astonishing.

The fact is over A$4.129 billion was generated from visa application fees in 2024/25, up 47.5 percent over 2014/15 and accounting for around 1 percent of total federal government revenue, ex GST. This is the equivalent to what the federal government raises from fringe benefits tax (FBT), our eighth largest source of tax revenue.

Our visa application fee inflation has been marked as Table 1 outlines.

By comparison, the US Government brought in around US$2.2 billion (A$3.4 billion) in visa application fees in 2024/25. Therefore a country with 13 times our population is drawing in 22 percent less. From 2025, President Trump has issued a new ‘visa integrity fee’ of US$250 which is expected to generate a further US$2.7 billion annually. Of note, the US Bureau of Consular Affairs is 96 percent fee-funded, rather than congressional appropriations.

Of interest, the US$1 million Trump Card visa targeting residency permits for High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) has attracted 70,000 applicants as of July 2025. A higher US$5 million Platinum Card status - currently awaiting congressional approval - would allow holders to spend up to 270 days in the US without incurring federal taxes on non-US derived income. All told the US Government expects to draw in US$100 billion from these programmes.

Over the last two decades, Australia has pulled in just under $60 billion in accumulated revenues. from visa application fees. (refer to Chart 1).

In July 2024, Australia ended its Significant Investor Visa (SIV) which allowed permanent residency for those that invested A$5 million in Australian assets. The government rationalised its termination by arguing that conventional migration drove A$300,000 per person more to the economy over their lifetime than SIV holders. Perhaps, Australia should be running an AlboCard visas for those willing to pay their way. Effectively, if Australia could attract 4,129 HNWIs to pay A$1 million for an AlboCard it would instantly turn them three times more profitable per person than the average migrant over their lifetime and generate the same revenue as processing 768,000 Migration and Temporary visas applications still on hand in 2024/25.

Net overseas migration, as recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), has jumped by 1.2 million (Chart 2) over the last three years.

An argument could be made that the government is merely seeking to take financial advantage of the demand from international students, temporary skilled workers or migrants. As they seem prepared to fork out for these egregiously expensive visa application fees - especially compared to global peer nations - the government no doubt justifies it by keeping the cash register ringing. Only the UK comes close to our fee levels, when mandatory annual National Health Service (NHS) contributions are excluded.

If our migrants feel ripped off, they can take comfort that Australian citizens are forced to pay the most expensive passport fees in the world. The latest numbers from the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT) noted Australians forked out c.A$1 billion on travel documents in the most recent fiscal year.

For all the revenue generation in these areas, the Institute of Public Affairs noted that all this excess overseas migration is expected to create a cumulative housing shortage of around 253,000 out to 2028. The unfortunate byproduct has been to further price out regular Australians already struggling to get on the property ladder.

Perversely, the Labor government, in what looks like an attempt to tax foreigners commercially, simply cannot see the second and third derivative externalities which will end up costing Australians way more than visa application fees even before we begin to consider the ongoing suicidal economic impacts from our broken energy markets.