Australia visa refusal rate by nationality: student visas 2025-26, and visitor visas
How many Australian student visa applications were refused, nationality by nationality, from the Department of Home Affairs' official monthly file: by financial year, by month, by education sector, and whether the applicant was outside or in Australia. Visitor visa grant rates for the citizenships listed in the six-monthly report are below.
Primary applicants outside Australia · all nationalities · July 2025 to June 2026: 20.7% refused (47,682 of 229,854 decisions)
Highest refusal rates in 2025-26 among nationalities with at least 500 decisions: Kenya (52.2%), Nepal (47.6%), Pakistan (43.8%). Lowest: Norway (0.3%), Switzerland (0.8%), Germany (0.8%).
Source: Australian Government Department of Home Affairs, BP0015 Student visa grant rates (XLSX on data.gov.au, decisions to 30 September 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026), licensed under CC BY 2.5 AU. Student visas (subclass 500); refusal rate = refused ÷ (granted + refused), the complement of the Department's grant rate. The Department says the figures are provisional and is not responsible for our analysis.
Statistics, not advice. These are official figures for all applications decided in a past period. They cannot predict the decision on your application, and they mix very different applicants, courses and documents. A lower rate for your country, sector or month does not make your application more likely to succeed. Always follow the official requirements of the immigration authority.
Country pages put the Australian figures next to the Schengen, UK, New Zealand and Canadian ones.
Australia student visa refusal rate by nationality (2025-26)
Primary applicants applying from outside Australia, nationalities with at least 500 decisions in 2025-26 (July 2025 to June 2026). "Change" is in percentage points on 2024-25. Tap a column heading to sort, or type to filter. * Fewer than 500 decisions; – fewer than 100.
| China | 4.8% | 6.4% | −1.6 pts | 7.6% | 54,197 | 7.4% |
| India | 38.1% | 18.6% | +19.5 pts | 51.9% | 36,766 | 36.0% |
| Nepal | 47.6% | 7.9% | +39.7 pts | 86.2% | 20,434 | 34.1% |
| Bangladesh | 33.4% | 3.7% | +29.8 pts | 73.1% | 13,364 | 26.9% |
| Indonesia | 13.2% | 4.4% | +8.8 pts | 19.8% | 7,167 | 17.4% |
| Vietnam | 13.6% | 18.9% | −5.4 pts | 11.8% | 6,649 | 13.5% |
| United States | 1.0% | 0.6% | +0.4 pts | 3.8% | 5,663 | 1.6% |
| Philippines | 42.7% | 36.5% | +6.2 pts | 75.5% | 5,150 | 33.4% |
| Kenya | 52.2% | 39.6% | +12.7 pts | 88.2% | 5,118 | 39.0% |
| Sri Lanka | 24.8% | 6.2% | +18.6 pts | 28.7% | 4,667 | 21.2% |
| Japan | 2.2% | 1.5% | +0.6 pts | 5.8% | 4,433 | 6.1% |
| Brazil | 16.7% | 12.3% | +4.4 pts | 22.7% | 4,368 | 19.6% |
| South Korea | 5.5% | 3.6% | +1.9 pts | 6.6% | 3,995 | 11.9% |
| Malaysia | 3.8% | 3.9% | −0.1 pts | 9.0%* | 3,725 | 20.6% |
| Pakistan | 43.8% | 51.3% | −7.4 pts | 49.0% | 3,538 | 37.2% |
| Germany | 0.8% | 0.7% | +0.1 pts | 1.6%* | 3,213 | 2.0% |
| Bhutan | 32.0% | 9.0% | +22.9 pts | 64.0%* | 2,895 | 20.0% |
| Taiwan | 2.7% | 1.9% | +0.8 pts | 3.6% | 2,634 | 19.5% |
| Hong Kong | 4.1% | 2.5% | +1.6 pts | 5.8%* | 2,626 | 7.7% |
| Singapore | 2.0% | 1.0% | +1.0 pts | 2.3%* | 2,315 | 3.1% |
| Thailand | 27.1% | 31.7% | −4.6 pts | 29.1%* | 2,063 | 32.5% |
| Mexico | 3.7% | 3.3% | +0.5 pts | 10.6%* | 2,059 | 5.3% |
| Spain | 5.1% | 2.3% | +2.8 pts | 3.8%* | 1,982 | 6.3% |
| Colombia | 30.0% | 36.4% | −6.5 pts | 37.3%* | 1,918 | 30.1% |
| France | 6.0% | 4.0% | +2.0 pts | 8.0%* | 1,858 | 9.1% |
| Canada | 1.4% | 0.7% | +0.7 pts | 2.8%* | 1,627 | 3.6% |
| Cambodia | 9.6% | 9.8% | −0.2 pts | 10.3%* | 1,602 | 8.1% |
| Türkiye | 39.8% | 40.2% | −0.4 pts | 81.5%* | 1,505 | 27.7% |
| Norway | 0.3% | 0.1% | +0.2 pts | 1.4%* | 1,499 | 0.6% |
| United Kingdom | 3.2% | 2.2% | +1.0 pts | 9.3%* | 1,482 | 6.8% |
| Italy | 3.7% | 5.1% | −1.4 pts | 10.9%* | 1,278 | 7.7% |
| Saudi Arabia | 2.2% | 0.9% | +1.3 pts | 2.4%* | 1,201 | 3.0% |
| Chile | 9.6% | 9.8% | −0.2 pts | 18.6%* | 1,031 | 13.0% |
| Papua New Guinea | 14.5% | 7.2% | +7.2 pts | 12.2%* | 961 | 15.3% |
| Iran | 16.7% | 9.1% | +7.6 pts | 17.7%* | 791 | 14.7% |
| Fiji | 25.2% | 19.0% | +6.2 pts | 30.3%* | 722 | 34.0% |
| Ecuador | 23.0% | 32.6% | −9.5 pts | 28.3%* | 651 | 20.5% |
| Switzerland | 0.8% | 0.6% | +0.1 pts | 2.1%* | 651 | 0.9% |
| Mongolia | 27.2% | 37.0% | −9.7 pts | 16.5%* | 650 | 34.3% |
| Nigeria | 30.8% | 37.4%* | −6.6 pts | 77.6%* | 591 | 20.0% |
| Zimbabwe | 33.6% | 25.9%* | +7.8 pts | 63.0%* | 556 | 26.0% |
| Denmark | 0.9% | 0.2% | +0.7 pts | – | 555 | 2.9% |
| Sweden | 1.1% | 0.2% | +0.9 pts | – | 539 | 2.9% |
Source: Australian Government Department of Home Affairs, BP0015 Student visa grant rates (XLSX on data.gov.au, decisions to 30 September 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026), licensed under CC BY 2.5 AU. Student visas (subclass 500); refusal rate = refused ÷ (granted + refused), the complement of the Department's grant rate. The Department says the figures are provisional and is not responsible for our analysis. "All applicants" adds primary applicants already in Australia and family members.
By education sector, all nationalities
| Higher education (university) | 19.3% | 7.8% | 158,543 | 30,676 |
| Vocational education and training (VET) | 59.8% | 46.5% | 20,257 | 12,107 |
| Postgraduate research | 4.7% | 1.3% | 5,933 | 281 |
| English language courses (ELICOS) | 22.5% | 23.4% | 16,612 | 3,732 |
| Non-award courses | 0.8% | 0.4% | 17,296 | 131 |
| Schools | 9.3% | 14.4% | 7,938 | 736 |
| Foreign Affairs or Defence | 0.6% | 0.3% | 3,275 | 19 |
Source: Home Affairs, BP0015 Student visa grant rates, same file as above (decisions to 30 September 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026, CC BY 2.5 AU). Primary applicants applying from outside Australia.
Month by month, all nationalities
- 23%Oct
2025 14,381 decisions - 14%Nov
2025 29,553 decisions - 14%Dec
2025 22,660 decisions - 23%Jan
2026 23,385 decisions - 32%Feb
2026 18,438 decisions - 40%Mar
2026 16,568 decisions - 21%Apr
2026 13,967 decisions - 22%May
2026 19,501 decisions - 27%Jun
2026 21,442 decisions - 34%Jul
2026 19,181 decisions - 32%Aug
2026 11,313 decisions - 25%Sep
2026 9,767 decisions
Source: Home Affairs BP0015, same file as above (decisions to 30 September 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026, CC BY 2.5 AU). Primary applicants outside Australia; each bar is the share of decisions in that month that were refusals.
Australia visitor visa grant rates by citizenship
For visitor visas Home Affairs publishes rates by citizenship only in its six-monthly visitor visa report, for the 15 citizenship countries it lists for each visa (the rest are grouped as "other countries"), quarter by quarter. Below: the share of decisions that were not grants (100% minus the published grant rate). Electronic travel authorities (ETA) and eVisitor are counted separately; the same report puts their grant rates at about 99%.
Tourist visitor visas (subclass 600 and 676, as grouped in the report): share not granted
| China | 13.9% | 12.5% | 15.5% | 15.4% | 12.6% | 137,383 |
| India | 26.8% | 26.4% | 26.6% | 26.9% | 30.2% | 63,157 |
| Philippines | 19.3% | 15.2% | 13.0% | 15.7% | 19.4% | 21,617 |
| Indonesia | 17.6% | 14.0% | 10.6% | 15.3% | 22.9% | 19,937 |
| Vietnam | 36.2% | 36.3% | 33.0% | 31.7% | 27.7% | 13,780 |
| Brazil | 7.2% | 7.7% | 7.8% | 6.8% | 7.0% | 8,758 |
| South Africa | 4.7% | 4.9% | 6.2% | 3.9% | 4.1% | 7,886 |
| Nepal | 26.4% | 19.6% | 20.5% | 25.7% | 29.4% | 7,621 |
| Sri Lanka | 19.0% | 17.1% | 18.1% | 18.4% | 21.8% | 7,180 |
| Thailand | 31.7% | 20.9% | 21.9% | 28.2% | 34.7% | 5,847 |
| Fiji | 29.8% | 23.0% | 23.8% | 23.8% | 26.1% | 5,724 |
| United States | 7.5% | 10.0% | 10.7% | 10.4% | 9.5% | 5,640 |
| Russia | 13.1% | 15.0% | 15.0% | 13.8% | 10.0% | 4,137 |
| Chile | 8.6% | 7.6% | 7.4% | 5.2% | 5.1% | 3,542 |
| Bangladesh | 64.5% | 57.9% | 54.8% | 52.0% | 56.8% | 3,466 |
| All nationalities | 21.8% | 20.1% | 20.6% | 21.2% | 21.4% | – |
Source: Australian Government Department of Home Affairs, BR0112 Visitor visa program report, 31 December 2025 (PDF, tables 3.02 and 3.03, downloaded on 26 October 2026), licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU (copyright notice). The report gives grant rates, not the number of decisions: we show a nationality only if the Department's BP0018 visitor visas granted file (CC BY 2.5 AU, downloaded on 26 October 2026) counts at least 500 grants of that visa in the latest quarter, so the rate rests on at least 500 decisions.
Sponsored tourist visitor visas (subclass 600, sponsored family stream): share not granted
Also listed in the report, but with fewer than 500 grants in the latest quarter, so not shown: Bangladesh, Iran, Vietnam, Nepal, Fiji, Cambodia, Lebanon, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Thailand.
| India | 44.1% | 42.9% | 40.4% | 39.6% | 39.0% | 2,432 |
| Pakistan | 39.7% | 43.9% | 47.7% | 35.3% | 34.2% | 1,414 |
| Philippines | 46.5% | 44.1% | 48.7% | 37.9% | 37.2% | 673 |
| Sri Lanka | 38.6% | 35.4% | 37.8% | 37.6% | 39.4% | 633 |
| China | 37.4% | 38.4% | 45.3% | 33.8% | 32.5% | 621 |
| All nationalities | 45.5% | 47.1% | 47.3% | 42.6% | 41.4% | – |
Source: Australian Government Department of Home Affairs, BR0112 Visitor visa program report, 31 December 2025 (PDF, tables 3.02 and 3.03, downloaded on 26 October 2026), licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU (copyright notice). The report gives grant rates, not the number of decisions: we show a nationality only if the Department's BP0018 visitor visas granted file (CC BY 2.5 AU, downloaded on 26 October 2026) counts at least 500 grants of that visa in the latest quarter, so the rate rests on at least 500 decisions.
How to read these figures
- By citizenship. Home Affairs counts applicants by the country of citizenship (for dual citizens, the citizenship of the travel document or the one nominated in the application).
- Refusal rate = refused ÷ (granted + refused). Applications withdrawn or still being processed are not decisions. Grant rate = 100% − refusal rate.
- Primary applicants outside Australia are students applying from abroad; family members (secondary applicants) and students already in Australia are in the country tables.
- Financial years run from 1 July to 30 June. The current year (July to September 2026) is incomplete. The file is updated monthly and figures can be revised.
- Minimum 500 decisions in 2025-26 for a nationality to appear in the main table.
Official sources
- BP0015 Student visa grant rates at 2026-09-30 – Department of Home Affairs on data.gov.au, XLSX, 21,179,753 bytes, downloaded on 26 October 2026. Licence: CC BY 2.5 AU. Attribution: Australian Government Department of Home Affairs.
- BR0112 Visitor visa program report, 31 December 2025 – Department of Home Affairs, PDF, downloaded on 26 October 2026. Licence: CC BY 3.0 AU (copyright and disclaimer).
- BP0018 Visitor Visas Granted (quarterly) report as at 2026-09-30 – Department of Home Affairs on data.gov.au, XLSX, downloaded on 26 October 2026, CC BY 2.5 AU (used only to check that each visitor visa rate rests on at least 500 decisions).
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