Paying Visa Application Charges

Sometimes, even just paying for a visa application can be tricky.

It is our habit to pay all clients’ visa application charges online in Australian Dollars. That is especially the case for hard copy and overseas applications, where special complications can arise.

Taking the few additional steps necessary to pay online can avoid numerous issues.

To illustrate some of the potential challenges, here are two issues facing someone paying a visa application charge outside Australia:

• The Australian Government has published a list of ‘set in stone’ exchange rates that will be used when their charges are paid in non-Australian currency. You can see it here.

• Local currency is not always acceptable when paying visa application charges. The Australian Government has listed what currency they will accept payments in for many countries. You can see it here.

Our solution is to pay all clients’ visa application charges online using ImmiAccount. This avoids exchange rates and currency issues. If the visa application is not an online application where the payment is automatically linked to it, we ensure that the payment is linked to the application. We use the ‘Manage Payments’ section of ImmiAccount to make the appropriate payment and obtain a receipt. The receipt number is written on the client’s application form and a copy of the receipt is attached to the visa application.