Effective the 19th of April of this year, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, or DIBP, have introduced a credit card surcharge which is applied to all payments made through credit cards for Australian visa application charges.

The amount of the surcharge will depend on the credit card that is used:

• 1.08% of the visa application charge payment via Mastercard or Visa credit cards.
• 1.99% of the visa application charge payment via Japan Credit Bureau (JCB) or American Express credit cards.
• 2.91% of the visa application charge payment via Diners Club International credit cards.
• Milestone Migration uses a Mastercard for payment of Visa Application Charges and as such, the additional 1.08% charge will be passed on to our clients at the time of invoicing.

The surcharge fee is payable on top of the visa application charge. To illustrate the effect of this surcharge, note that for applicants taking on Permanent Residency with an application fee of $3520 the surcharge applicable will be an additional $38.02.