The Australian visa application fee will change effective January 1, 2009. Based on the current exchange rates of major world currencies to the Australian dollar, the visa application fee will decrease. This decrease applies to migrant and temporary visas issued by Australian Consulates overseas and will only affect payments made outside Australia, not payments made in Australian dollars by applicants lodging onshore applications.
Australian Consulates can only process visa fee payments in currencies that have been designated as acceptable by the DIAC offshore offices where a visa application is lodged. Overseas posts cannot accept payments in Australian currency. Expectedly, the visa processing fees are being adjusted because currency exchange rates have changed significantly over the past few months.
The fee adjustment will affect subclass 300 prospective marriage, subclass 309 provisional spouse, and subclass 100 permanent spousal visa applications. Applicants who paid the prior application fee in local currencies and lodged their applications before January 1 will not be subject to the new fee. The new exchange rates will only apply to applications received by Australian visa-issuing posts overseas on and after January 1, 2009.
