Australia guide · 2026 changes · 6 min read
Australia's 2026 student visa changes, and what they mean if you're applying from Nepal.
Five things changed in 2026. The visa fee rose to AUD 2,500 on 1 July. Nepal moved to Evidence Level 3, the strictest tier, in January. Ministerial Direction 115 caps how many offshore files are processed fast. From 2 October 2026 most new applications can't include a partner or children. And the grant rate for Nepali applicants fell from 89.9% in July 2025 to 25.3% in July 2026.
The short version
- The visa now costs AUD 2,500 (about Rs 2.65 lakh). Budget it before you pay any deposit.
- Nepal is at Evidence Level 3 since January 2026: expect every money and study document to be read, not skimmed.
- From 2 October 2026 a new student visa can't include your spouse or children unless you're a PhD student or another exemption applies.
- Nepal's grant rate was 25.3% in July 2026. A weak file lodged now is more likely to be refused than at any time in ten years.
- Your best move is a stronger file, not a faster one: money with a documented source, a course that follows from your past, and honest answers.
Official data
Australian Student visa grant rate for Nepali applicants, by financial year
Nepal, month by month: the last 14 months
Coral bars: months when fewer than half of Nepali applicants were granted.
See the numbers
| Period | Nepal grant rate | All countries | Decisions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16–17 | 83.8% | 92.1% | 13,669 granted, 2,641 refused |
| 17–18 | 84.1% | 91.0% | 19,941 granted, 3,756 refused |
| 18–19 | 77.8% | 90.2% | 23,648 granted, 6,731 refused |
| 19–20 | 87.0% | 92.4% | 17,537 granted, 2,614 refused |
| 20–21 | 95.8% | 95.7% | 15,164 granted, 668 refused |
| 21–22 | 88.3% | 91.9% | 25,643 granted, 3,404 refused |
| 22–23 | 67.9% | 85.7% | 32,758 granted, 15,456 refused |
| 23–24 | 65.6% | 80.2% | 14,756 granted, 7,730 refused |
| 24–25 | 81.9% | 83.2% | 24,424 granted, 5,405 refused |
| 25–26 | 64.1% | 78.8% | 22,892 granted, 12,826 refused |
| Jul 2025 | 89.9% | 3,014 granted, 339 refused | |
| Aug 2025 | 86.7% | 2,298 granted, 353 refused | |
| Sep 2025 | 80.3% | 2,991 granted, 734 refused | |
| Oct 2025 | 78.0% | 3,166 granted, 893 refused | |
| Nov 2025 | 65.1% | 1,988 granted, 1,065 refused | |
| Dec 2025 | 69.6% | 1,147 granted, 502 refused | |
| Jan 2026 | 50.3% | 1,547 granted, 1,526 refused | |
| Feb 2026 | 47.5% | 1,882 granted, 2,081 refused | |
| Mar 2026 | 40.2% | 1,675 granted, 2,495 refused | |
| Apr 2026 | 66.2% | 1,231 granted, 628 refused | |
| May 2026 | 57.1% | 1,235 granted, 926 refused | |
| Jun 2026 | 35.9% | 718 granted, 1,284 refused | |
| Jul 2026 | 25.3% | 596 granted, 1,758 refused | |
| Aug 2026 | 33.3% | 484 granted, 970 refused |
The five changes, in the order they hit your file
Most of what you read about 2026 lists the changes without saying which one matters for you. Here they are in the order they affect a Nepali applicant, with what each one costs you in money, time or risk.
| Change | When | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Visa fee rises to AUD 2,500 | 1 July 2026 | About Rs 2.65 lakh at Rs 105.97 per AUD (18 Oct 2026), paid at lodgement, not refundable |
| Nepal moves to Evidence Level 3 | January 2026 | Full money and English evidence expected up front, read closely |
| Ministerial Direction 115 | From 14 November 2025 | Offshore files are processed in a set priority order; 2026 planning level 295,000 |
| No family members on new applications | 2 October 2026 | Your spouse and children can’t come on your student visa unless you’re exempt |
| No new student visa from inside Australia for most temporary visa holders | 2 October 2026 | Plan your whole course on one visa; don’t count on switching later |
The living-cost amount did not change. You still show AUD 29,710 for 12 months, plus your first year’s tuition and travel. Nor did the work rule: 48 hours a fortnight during term.
What Evidence Level 3 changes in practice
Home Affairs rates each country and each education provider. The two ratings together decide your “evidence level”. At Level 3, the officer expects you to prove your money and your English with the application, and they read every page.
Here’s what that looks like on a real desk in Kathmandu:
- A bank balance certificate alone is not enough. The officer wants the statement history behind it, and the income that built it. A large deposit two weeks before you lodge is the first thing they look at.
- Business income needs a paper trail. Tax clearance for three years, the PAN or VAT registration, and a CA’s income report that matches what the bank shows.
- Loans need their collateral. A sanction letter without the land papers and valuation behind it reads as a promise, not money.
- Gaps need evidence, not a sentence. A work letter with salary slips or tax records for every year you weren’t studying.
None of this is new. It’s what a strong Nepali file always had. What changed is that a file without it now gets refused instead of asked for more.
From our files. Of our 194 refusals across all 10 countries in FY 2025/26, 79 were on financial evidence and 61 on the genuine-student assessment. Only 14 were about missing documents. The money story decides most files.
The grant rate: read it before you pay a deposit
The chart above comes straight from Home Affairs’ own data file. For Nepali primary applicants, the grant rate was 64.1% across FY 2025/26 and 28.4% in July and August 2026. In July 2025 it was 89.9%.
Two cautions so nobody misreads it:
- This is all Nepali applicants, every provider and every sector. Vocational and English-only courses pull the number down. For higher education alone, FY 2025/26 was 68.2%.
- It doesn’t predict your file. A rate is an average of strong and weak files. The point isn’t “Australia is closed”. It’s that a weak file lodged in 2026 has little chance.
Read the full grant-rate guide for the sector and location split, and what our own 87.6% means next to it.
The 2 October 2026 family rule
From 2 October 2026, you can’t include family members in a new Student visa application unless an exemption applies. You also can’t add them after the visa is granted, and there are no exemptions to that second part.
The exemptions, as Study Australia lists them:
- Doctoral students
- Pacific and ASEAN nationals (not Nepal)
- Recipients of a fully funded foreign-government scholarship
- Students sponsored by Australia’s foreign affairs or defence departments
For most Nepali master’s students this ends the plan of going together. If your spouse wants to study too, each of you needs your own student visa with your own CoE (Confirmation of Enrolment, the document your university issues after you accept the offer and pay the deposit), money and genuine-student case. Read studying in Australia with your spouse after October 2026 for the options that are left.
Applications lodged before 2 October 2026 are assessed under the rules at the time they were lodged.
Applying from inside Australia is now mostly closed
Also from 2 October 2026, most people on temporary visas in Australia can’t apply for a Student visa onshore. The exemptions cover doctoral students, school students, provider default, and students who need up to 12 more months with the same provider.
What this means for you in Kathmandu: choose a course you can finish on the visa you get. The old pattern of switching to a cheaper college once you arrive, then renewing from inside Australia, is mostly gone. A new “transfer stream” for students who change providers is planned, but Study Australia gives no date.
What we changed in our own process
We didn’t wait for the refusals to tell us what changed. Since January 2026 every Australia file we lodge:
- Has its money story written first, before we apply for a CoE. One page in plain numbers: who pays, where the money came from, how long it has been there.
- Is read by a second counsellor as if they were the officer, with the refusal reasons from our last 842 Australia files as the checklist.
- Gets a “not yet” when it isn’t ready. Last year we told 612 of 3,140 students not to apply yet (19.5%). In 2026 that share is higher for Australia, and we’d rather lose a file than lodge a weak one.
Should you still choose Australia in 2026?
Choose Australia if you can say yes to all four:
- Your family’s money can be shown to its source: salary with tax, business with tax clearance and a CA report, or a loan with its collateral.
- Your course follows from what you studied or did: IT after a computing degree, nursing after +2 science or a PCL.
- You can fund the full first year without counting on part-time pay.
- You’re going alone, or your partner has their own route.
If two or more of those are a no, look at Germany, Finland or another European country where the costs and checks are different, or give yourself 6 to 12 months to fix the file. A refusal stays on your record and is asked about in every future application, to every country.
A file that would have passed in 2024 and wouldn’t now
A student came to us in August 2026 with a master’s offer and Rs 48 lakh shown in an uncle’s account, deposited over three weeks. In 2024 that file had a fair chance with a strong explanation. At Evidence Level 3, a recent lump sum from a relative, with no income record behind it, is the classic refusal.
We didn’t lodge. His father’s own savings plus a loan against family land, with the valuation and three years of tax-cleared income, covered the amount properly. It took seven weeks longer. His CoE moved to the next intake, and the file went in clean.
Your checklist for 2026
- Visa fee of AUD 2,500 in the budget, in rupees
- Money held for months, not weeks, with its source on paper
- Tax clearance and income papers for every sponsor, for 3 years
- Loan sanction letter plus collateral papers and valuation, if borrowing
- English test score meeting the visa and the university minimum, taken before you lodge
- A course that follows from your +2, degree or work, explained in your own words
- A plan to finish the whole course on one visa
- If married: a plan for your spouse that doesn’t rely on your student visa
