There is no official fee schedule for registered migration agents in Australia. OMARA does not set or cap professional fees, and the Code of Conduct deliberately leaves pricing as a commercial decision for each practice. That freedom cuts both ways: it lets a well-run practice price properly for complexity, and it leaves newer agents guessing at what the market will bear.
This guide pulls together the fee ranges that published guides and directories actually quote in 2026, the pricing models most practices use, and the Code obligations that sit underneath every fee you charge. It is written for the agent setting or reviewing a fee schedule, not for the visa applicant shopping around — though the numbers serve both.
Why there is no official fee scale
Professional fees for immigration assistance are unregulated in amount. What is regulated — tightly — is how you charge: the Code of Conduct requires a written agreement before you start substantive work, an estimate of fees and disbursements, and clear invoicing for the services actually performed. If you have not read it recently, our fee disclosure and client agreements guide walks through those obligations section by section.
The practical consequence: two agents can charge wildly different fees for the same visa, and both are compliant — provided the fee was disclosed, agreed in writing, and the work invoiced matches the work done.
What the market charges in 2026
Published fee guides put typical professional fees (excluding government charges) in these bands:
- Visitor visas (subclass 600): roughly $500 to $1,500 for preparation and lodgment.
- Skilled visas (189/190/491 and employer-sponsored): roughly $3,000 to $8,000 or more, with employer-sponsored matters usually quoted per stage — sponsorship, nomination and visa each priced separately.
- Partner visas (820/801 and 309/100): roughly $4,000 to $10,000 or more. Partner matters carry heavy evidence work, which is why the band is wide.
- Complex matters: refusal histories, health or character issues, and ministerial intervention requests can push total professional fees to $15,000 or beyond.
- Review work (ART): usually quoted afresh rather than bundled with the original application. Many practices charge at or above the original application fee once hearing preparation is involved — see our guide to ART deadlines and fees for the tribunal costs that sit alongside.
Sources worth bookmarking for client conversations: consumer-facing fee guides such as Tern's migration agent cost guide and Leading Edge's partner visa fee breakdown publish ranges consistent with the bands above. Treat every published number as indicative — fees are set practice by practice.
Keep the government charges in frame
Your professional fee is only part of what the client pays. Visa application charges were indexed again on 1 July 2026, and for some caseloads the VAC now dwarfs the professional fee — the partner visa application charge alone reached $11,710, and skilled visa charges sit above $6,100 for a primary applicant. Card payments to the Department also attract a surcharge (around 1.4% for Visa and Mastercard). Always quote the professional fee, the government charges, and third-party disbursements (skills assessments, English tests, health checks, police clearances) as separate line items — the Home Affairs fees and charges pages are the source of truth.
A client who understands from day one that the government takes $11,710 of their partner visa budget rarely disputes your fee later. A client who discovers it at lodgment often does.
The four pricing models in use
1. Fixed fee by stage — the default
The dominant model, and the one clients understand best: a fixed professional fee per defined stage (for example, sponsorship, nomination and visa application as three stages, or preparation and lodgment followed by post-lodgment work). Fixed fees force you to scope carefully — which is exactly what the Code wants from your written agreement anyway.
2. Instalments against milestones
A fixed fee paid in parts — commonly on signing, on document completion, and on lodgment. Instalments smooth cash flow for the client and reduce your exposure to abandoned matters. Whatever the schedule, money received before the work is performed is the client's money, not yours — hold it in your clients' account until it is earned. Our trust accounting guide covers the mechanics.
3. Hourly rates for open-ended work
Hourly billing survives mainly in review and litigation-adjacent work, complex corporate advice, and ministerial intervention requests where scope genuinely cannot be fixed. If you bill hourly, your estimate obligations under the Code become more demanding, not less — update the client as the estimate moves.
4. Retainers for corporate sponsors
Practices with employer-sponsored caseloads increasingly quote standing arrangements for business sponsors — an agreed rate card for nominations and visas, sometimes with a monthly retainer for compliance support. If this is your market, our Skills in Demand visa guide covers the visa product these clients are buying.
Setting your own fees: a working method
- Cost the matter honestly. Count preparation hours, review time, software, professional indemnity insurance, CPD and rent — a fee that ignores overheads is a donation.
- Load for complexity, not for visa type alone. A straightforward 482 can be less work than a visitor visa with two refusals. Build explicit loadings for refusal history, health and character issues, family size and tight deadlines.
- Define what is out of scope. Most fee disputes are scope disputes. State what the fee excludes — further submissions after refusal, review applications, additional applicants — and price those separately when they arise.
- Review every 1 July. Government charges, income thresholds and tribunal fees all index on 1 July. Review your own schedule at the same time so your margins do not erode by default.
Presenting fees so clients say yes
Agents lose engagements less on price than on presentation. A single opaque number invites comparison shopping; a staged fee with a clear inclusions list invites a signature. Put the fee schedule inside a professional service agreement, offer an instalment plan against milestones, and invoice against the stages the client already agreed to. (This is core LodgeHQ territory — service agreements with e-signing, staged invoicing and instalment plans are built in.)
Document the fee conversation itself, too. A file note recording that fees were explained and accepted has ended more than one OMARA complaint early — our file note guide shows what to record.
Run your practice, not just your files
Fee setting is a practice management discipline: cost, scope, disclose, invoice, review. The agents who treat it that way are consistently the ones with healthy margins and quiet complaints registers. For the full compliance picture around money handling, start with our Code of Conduct compliance checklist.
LodgeHQ gives registered migration agents the commercial plumbing for all of this — service agreements with staged fees and e-signing, invoicing with instalments, and a clients' money workflow that keeps you on the right side of the Code. Start a free 14-day trial and put your fee schedule on rails.