Your guide to process and cost of Australia PR visa

If you have applied for the Permanent Resident or PR visa to Australia, you should abide by the rules under Australian migration law.  Apart from meeting the legal requirements, you must also pay the visa processing fees as prescribed. The cost and processing fees will vary based on the visa sub-categories.

The most popular way to apply for a PR visa is the General Skilled Migration System (Skilled Independent Visa, State Nomination Visa). The application process for this visa follows a defined set of steps. These include Skills Assessment, English language test, medical test, police clearance etc. Each stage comes with its own processing fees. If you want an estimate of the total cost of the PR visa, you must add all the charges.

The total cost of the PR visa will include these charges along with the visa application fees.

Here is an overview of the process and the expenses involved at each stage:

The PR visa application starts with a Skills Assessment where an accreditation organization affiliated to the Australian government will assess your skills and qualifications. For this, you will have to pay the Skills Assessment fees which vary based on the occupation.

The next step is to prove your English proficiency by taking any one of the English language tests approved by the Australian government. These include IELTS, TOEFL, PTE etc. Again, the cost of the test varies based on which test you choose.

Applying for PR under Subclass Visa 190 includes State Sponsorship. This will shorten the processing time. This makes you eligible for a State Nomination for your PR visa. The fees for State Sponsorship vary with each State, the maximum cost is around AUD 300.

After these formalities, you will get an Invitation to Apply (ITA) where you will pay the relevant visa fees and submit your final visa application to the DINP. Under the General Skilled Migration Program, you would be applying for any one of the following-189 /190 / 489 Skilled independent visa.

Apart from your application, you will have to submit proof of your educational qualifications and work experience.

For your PR visa, you and your dependents should have certificates for good health and character. For this you will have to pay for medical examination and a police clearance certificate is required. The cost of the police clearance certificate depends on the country you are from.

The application for Australia PR involves different stages and there are certain costs at each stage. The table below will give you an idea of the processing costs.

Processing stage	Fees per person
Skills Assessment fees	AUD 250-4000
English test fees	IELTS-AUD 236.95 TOEFL-AUD 180 PTE-AUD 278.92
Medical Examination Fees (varies by country)	AUD 94
Police clearance certificate	Varies by country

Cost calculator:

To calculate your PR visa costs, let us assume you are the primary applicant with two dependents- your spouse and a child below 18 years, we will give you a break-up of the visa processing charges so that you will get a fair idea of how much you will need to pay.

Here is a break –up of the total PR visa fees of 7080  Australian dollars that you will be paying.

Category	Fees
Adult over 18 years	AUD 4,045
Adult – dependent over 18 years	AUD 2,020
Child below 18 years	AUD 1,015

If your spouse does not have the required proficiency in English (intermediate level) then you will have to pay an additional amount of AUD 4,890 as part of the charges.

Variation in cost:

Please note that the visa application cost changes periodically. The cost is based on the date you submit your application. If the application cost increases between the date of submission and the date it reaches the department of immigration, then you will have to pay as per the new application fees.

Factor in other costs:

If you decide to take the services of an immigration consultant to help you in the PR visa process, then you will have to factor in the cost of their services. To know more about these charges, you can check the MARA website on the fees these consultants charge for various visa sub-categories.

Total cost for the PR visa:

The total cost of your PR visa depends on the kind of visa you are applying for, the application fees, fees for medical examination, English language test, health insurance, number of dependents, airfare to Australia and other miscellaneous costs.

Cost is a major factor in the Australia PR application process. Factoring in the total costs will give you a good idea of the expenses you will have to incur and if needed plan on funding these expenses.