Australia will cap student visa numbers amid housing investment push

The federal government is proposing to introduce legislation to cap the number of students that can be enrolled by each of the 1400 universities and colleges registered to teach overseas students.

Alongside the cap, the government is pushing for educational institutions to invest in student-specific accommodation, aiming to ease housing pressures and the shortage of rental accommodation. The legislation will allow providers to go over those caps if they can prove they have invested in new student accommodation.

The proposal comes as the government is seriously considering a raise in the international students' visa application fee from AUS$710 (already higher than the fees in Canada and the US) to AUS$2,500.