You do not always need a migration agent, and no Australian visa legally requires one. What decides it is not the visa type on its own but your own history. A clean record on a simple visa is safe to handle yourself. A previous refusal, a criminal record or a high-risk passport changes the answer even on an easy visa.
No Australian visa requires a migration agent. The ETA (601), eVisitor (651), and straightforward tourist and Working Holiday applications are built to be self-service, and most people who apply for them do so without help
Your own history matters more than the visa type. A previous refusal anywhere in the world, a criminal record, a high-risk nationality or a health condition all raise the value of professional help, whichever visa you are applying for
Some visas reward professional help on complexity alone. Partner (820/801, 309/100), skilled (189/190) and employer-sponsored (482/186) applications turn on evidence and argument rather than form-filling. The student visa (500) has moved in the same direction since the Genuine Student requirement arrived
Migration agent fees run from about $1,000 to $10,000 or more, on top of a government fee that is never refunded. On a partner visa the government charge alone is AUD $11,710
A refused visa stays on your record permanently. You have to disclose it on every future application, to Australia and to most other countries, which is why the first application is the one that matters most
You're probably here because you've been quoted $2,000 by a migration agent for something you suspect you could do yourself. Or maybe you've been staring at ImmiAccount for an hour, wondering if you're in over your head. Either way, the question is the same: do I actually need to pay someone for this, or am I capable of handling it on my own?
The honest answer: it depends on your situation, and anyone who tells you otherwise is oversimplifying or selling you something. Some applications are so straightforward that paying an agent is like hiring a mechanic to check your tyre pressure. Others are so tangled that going it alone is like performing your own dental surgery.
This guide is about which camp you're in. It is not about which service to buy. If you decide you do want help, that is a separate decision.
Do I actually need a migration agent for an Australian visa?
There is no Australian visa that legally requires a migration agent. Whether you should use one comes down to two things: how complex the visa type is, and how complicated your personal circumstances are. Millions of people apply on their own successfully every year. A simple visa with a complicated applicant can be harder than a complex visa with a straightforward one.
Think of it as a risk spectrum. On one end, an American applying for an ETA to visit Sydney for a week. That's a short online application with near-instant approval for most people. On the other end, someone from a high-risk country with a previous refusal applying for a partner visa. That's months of evidence gathering, careful strategy, and careful presentation.
Most people fall somewhere in the middle. And that's exactly where the decision gets interesting.
The rule holds all the way through: match the level of help to the level of risk. Overpay for a simple application and you waste money. Underprepare for a complex one and it can cost you far more than any agent would have charged.
When can I safely apply for an Australian visa myself?
You can safely apply for an Australian visa yourself when the visa type is genuinely self-service and your personal circumstances are clean. Clean means a low-risk passport, no refusals, no criminal record, no health concerns, and finances that are easy to evidence. The Department designed several pathways for people to apply directly.
Can I apply for an ETA or eVisitor myself?
Yes. The ETA (subclass 601) and eVisitor (subclass 651) are the simplest Australian visas available, and most eligible passport holders can apply for them directly. Approval usually comes within minutes. Most practices do not take these on at all, and the few that quote for an eVisitor charge about $880, which is overkill for a visa this simple. The ETA covers passport holders from the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and a handful of other countries. The eVisitor covers European passport holders from the UK, EU nations, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.
These visas cost AUD $20 (ETA) or free (eVisitor). You do not need a migration agent for either. That said, the government process has friction. You'll set up an ImmiAccount, work through English-only forms, and make every detail match your passport exactly. And a previous refusal or a criminal record makes even these simple visas less predictable, because the automated system may pull your application out for manual processing.
Can I apply for a Subclass 600 tourist visa myself?
You can apply for a Subclass 600 tourist visa yourself if you hold a low-risk passport, your trip is straightforward, and you have no past visa problems. The government fee is AUD $250, and clean cases are usually decided in days to a few weeks.
You're a good candidate for applying yourself if all of the following are true:
You hold a passport from a low or medium-risk country
You have clear travel plans and a reason to return home
You have no previous visa refusals or cancellations, anywhere in the world
You have no criminal record or health concerns
Your financial situation is straightforward to document
If that describes you, applying through ImmiAccount is a sensible choice.
Can I apply for a Working Holiday visa without a migration agent?
Yes. The Working Holiday (417) and Work and Holiday (462) visas are granted at rates above 95% for most eligible nationalities, and a clean applicant can apply directly. Most people trip up on the health and character declarations, not on the form itself. If you're within the age limit, from an eligible country, haven't held one before, and meet the health and character requirements, the application is manageable without professional help.
The 462 is the fiddlier of the two, because some countries add requirements like a government support letter or functional English, and several are subject to annual caps. Those are timing problems more than legal ones, and they rarely justify an agent's fee on their own.
Can I apply for a student visa myself?
Yes, and most students do. But the subclass 500 is no longer a form-filling exercise. The paperwork is manageable: a Confirmation of Enrolment, Overseas Student Health Cover, evidence of funds, and an English test result. What catches people is the Genuine Student requirement, which asks you to explain in writing why this course, why Australia, and what you intend to do afterwards. That is a written case, not a form field.
If you're enrolled in a mainstream course that follows on from what you've already studied, hold a low-risk passport, and have no refusals behind you, applying yourself is reasonable. If you're switching fields, stepping down a qualification level, or reapplying after a refusal, get help with the written part at least.
One warning on education agents. Many bundle visa assistance with their enrolment services, sometimes at a reduced price or free. Some are also paid commissions by the institutions they place students with, which can influence which courses they put in front of you. That is worth knowing before you treat their course advice as neutral.
When is applying yourself genuinely a good idea?
Applying yourself is genuinely a good idea when three conditions line up: a simple visa type, straightforward personal circumstances, and low stakes if something goes wrong. When all three are true, an agent is an unnecessary expense. Save your money for the trip itself.
For ETA, eVisitor, and straightforward tourist or working holiday applications from low-risk countries, applying yourself is a perfectly reasonable choice. Millions of people do it successfully each year.
Which visas and situations genuinely need a migration agent?
Professional help genuinely earns its fee on complex visa types (partner, skilled, employer-sponsored), on any case with a previous refusal or character concern, on high-risk nationalities facing extra scrutiny, and whenever a refusal would be career or family-critical. In those cases the fee is usually a fraction of what's at stake.
Why are partner, skilled and employer-sponsored visas worth professional help?
Partner, skilled and employer-sponsored visas are worth professional help because they combine high government fees, intricate evidence requirements, and severe consequences if refused.
Partner visas (820/801 if you apply in Australia, 309/100 if you apply from outside it) are among the most evidence-intensive in the Australian system. The government charge alone is AUD $11,710, and none of it comes back if you're refused. You have to prove a genuine and continuing relationship through a stack of documentation: financial evidence, social evidence, statements from friends and family, a detailed relationship history, and evidence of a shared life. The evidence goes far beyond wedding photos. Case officers are trained to spot relationships of convenience, and the bar is high.
Skilled visas like the Subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) and 190 (Skilled Nominated) pull together points tests, skills assessments, occupation lists and state nomination requirements. The rules change often, and the points threshold for an invitation can shift from one round to the next. Get the skills assessment wrong and the rest of the work is wasted.
Employer-sponsored visas (subclass 482 and 186) put obligations on both the employer and the applicant. The sponsoring business must meet specific requirements, the nominated occupation must be on the relevant list, and the applicant must have the right qualifications and experience. Get any one of these wrong and you waste time and money for everyone involved, including the business that offered you the job.
Should I use a migration agent if I have a previous visa refusal?
Yes. If you have a previous visa refusal, you should strongly consider a migration agent. A refusal stays on your immigration record permanently, and you must disclose it on every future application, to Australia or any other country that asks. Failing to disclose it can trigger PIC 4020, which means a 3-year ban from most Australian visas.
How you present a previous refusal matters enormously. Someone who does this regularly will help you put the refusal in context, address the original concerns directly, and show what has changed. Submitting the same application that was previously refused will produce the same result, and you'll have yet another refusal on your record.
Should I use a migration agent if I'm from a high-risk country?
If you're from a high-risk country, professional help is often worth the fee, because case officers apply more scrutiny by default. Based on our analysis of 4.5 million visa decisions, applicants from high-risk countries face refusal rates between 20% and 40% for some visa types, compared to under 5% for low-risk countries. Your nationality sets the baseline level of scrutiny before a case officer even opens your file.
You can't change your passport. But you can submit an application so thorough, so well-evidenced and so carefully prepared that even a sceptical case officer has no grounds for refusal. That's where professional help earns its fee.
Do I need a migration agent for criminal records or health issues?
You should strongly consider one. The stakes are high, and getting the disclosure wrong can trigger refusal, a ban, or an allegation that you provided false or misleading information. Someone who handles character cases regularly knows how to present your history in a way that satisfies the Department without raising unnecessary alarm.
Health conditions that might affect your visa aren't automatically disqualifying, but they need careful handling. Some require a health waiver, which means presenting a written argument that you won't impose undue costs on the Australian healthcare system. That is specialised work, and it is not a form field.
When are the stakes too high to apply on your own?
The stakes are too high when a refusal would mean separation from a partner, the loss of a job, or having to leave a country where your children are in school. In those cases, a professional fee becomes insurance against an outcome you simply cannot afford.
For partner visas, skilled migration, employer-sponsored visas, or any situation involving previous refusals, criminal history, or high-risk nationality, the cost of professional help is typically a fraction of what you stand to lose if things go wrong.
What does professional help cost?
Migration agents in Australia charge roughly $1,000 to $10,000 or more, on top of the government fee. Where you land inside that range depends mostly on the visa. A visitor visa sits near the bottom, a partner visa near the top, and most other visa types in between. Figures checked mid-2026.
Two things are worth knowing before you ask for a quote. Most practices publish nothing at all, so the price lists you can find online come from the cheaper, more transparent end of the market and are not a reliable guide to what you will be quoted. And every registered agent must give you a written costs agreement before taking on your case, so ask for it early, and ask what sits outside it. Fixed fees and hourly billing are both common, and an hourly arrangement can climb quickly if your case turns out to be more complicated than the first meeting suggested.
For the fees by visa type, where each figure comes from, and what an agent's fee usually does and doesn't include, see our guide to migration agent costs in Australia.
Tern Tip
Whoever you speak to first, ask them one question before you pay anything: what is the weakest part of my case, and what would you do about it? Someone who has actually read your situation will name something specific in a sentence or two. Someone who answers in generalities hasn't looked yet. It's the cheapest way to tell the difference, and it works just as well on a free consultation as a paid one.
How do I decide whether to use a migration agent?
Work down this list and stop at the first point that describes you. It's ordered by risk, so the first match is your answer.
Is there a legal problem in your history? A previous refusal you need to reframe, a criminal record, a health condition that may need a waiver, a section 48 bar or Schedule 3 problem, or an appeal already on foot at the Administrative Review Tribunal. If so, you need a professional, and specifically one who builds arguments for a living. This is not paperwork. A Tribunal hearing is an adversarial proceeding, and if that's where you are, find someone who specialises in immigration litigation.
Is the visa itself complex? Partner, skilled and employer-sponsored applications reward professional help on complexity alone, even with a clean history. So does a student visa where you're changing direction. If this is you, the fee is usually small next to the government charge you'd lose on a refusal.
Does anything in your profile attract extra scrutiny? A high-risk nationality, a thin travel history, complicated finances, or an employment history that's hard to document. None of these are disqualifying. They just mean the file has to be better than average, and help is worth considering.
None of the above? You can do this yourself. A simple visa, a clean record and a straightforward story is exactly the case the Department built the online process for.
If you land in that last group but still don't fancy the paperwork, there is a middle option: guided platforms that handle the preparation for a fixed fee well below agent pricing. Whether that's better value than doing it yourself or hiring someone is a different question from the one this post answers.
The point is to match your help to your risk, not to your nerves. A well-prepared application from a high-risk country beats a sloppy one from a low-risk country. Whatever path you choose, preparation is what determines the outcome.
Frequently asked questions
What is a migration agent?
Can I apply for my own visa to Australia?
Do I need a migration agent for a student visa?
How much does a migration agent charge?
What happens if my visa is refused?
How do I check if a migration agent is legitimate?
Is Tern a migration agent?
So, do you need one?
If your visa is simple and your history is clean, no. Apply yourself, and use our step-by-step ImmiAccount guide so the process costs you less time than it otherwise would.
If there's a refusal, a record, a waiver or an appeal in your case, yes, and go to someone who argues cases rather than someone who fills in forms.
If you're in between, the question is no longer whether to get help but which kind.
Tern sits in that middle: we prepare and submit your application for a fixed fee published before you start, on the visas we handle. Explore visa applications with Tern.
