Crown World Mobility’s 5 March 2026 Asia-Pacific bulletin shed fresh light on the Graduate 485 fee changes, confirming a new four-tier structure that links costs to both passport eligibility and whether the application is a subsequent 485 lodgement. Under the matrix, only applicants with ‘eligible passports’—mostly from certain Pacific nations—avoid the 100 % fee increase.
![Four-Tier Fee Structure Introduced for Graduate 485 Visa, Concessions Kept for ‘Eligible Passport’ Holders]()
At this juncture, many employers and graduates turn to VisaHQ for real-time fee calculators, document checklists and end-to-end visa filing support; the platform’s Australia hub (https://www.visahq.com/australia/) keeps pace with every pricing revision, sparing HR teams the headache of manual compliance tracking.
In contrast, non-eligible passport holders lodging their first 485 now pay AU$4,600, while those seeking a second 485 face AU$1,810, double the previous charge. The nuanced framework means global mobility teams must segment graduate-hire cohorts by citizenship when calculating relocation budgets. For example, a Fijian graduate pays just AU$905 for a subsequent 485, whereas an Indian or Chinese counterpart pays five times as much. Dependants are affected proportionally, raising overall family-migration costs. Practical implications include the need to update cost projections, reimbursement policies and offer letters. Universities with large Pacific-island enrolments may promote the retained concession as a competitive advantage, while others warn that non-eligible cohorts could shift their sights to Canada or the UK.
At this juncture, many employers and graduates turn to VisaHQ for real-time fee calculators, document checklists and end-to-end visa filing support; the platform’s Australia hub (https://www.visahq.com/australia/) keeps pace with every pricing revision, sparing HR teams the headache of manual compliance tracking.
In contrast, non-eligible passport holders lodging their first 485 now pay AU$4,600, while those seeking a second 485 face AU$1,810, double the previous charge. The nuanced framework means global mobility teams must segment graduate-hire cohorts by citizenship when calculating relocation budgets. For example, a Fijian graduate pays just AU$905 for a subsequent 485, whereas an Indian or Chinese counterpart pays five times as much. Dependants are affected proportionally, raising overall family-migration costs. Practical implications include the need to update cost projections, reimbursement policies and offer letters. Universities with large Pacific-island enrolments may promote the retained concession as a competitive advantage, while others warn that non-eligible cohorts could shift their sights to Canada or the UK.
