Can I see an education agent's student visa grant rate in Australia in 2026?
Short answer: you may be able to see the counts behind an education agent's student visa results, but Australian law does not give every agent a single published "grant rate" percentage. According to the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act) section 175, "Giving information to relevant bodies etc.", on the Australian Government's Federal Register of Legislation, as of the September 2026 official page, the Secretary may publish information about the exercise of functions by education agents, and the provision sets out the metrics — the number of student visa applications linked to an agent that were granted, refused, withdrawn or invalid, and the number of student visas granted to those students that were cancelled or ceased to be in effect. In other words, the law authorises publication of the raw numbers, not a calculated success rate, and it uses "may", so publication is a discretion rather than an automatic entitlement.
What agent metrics does section 175 allow to be published?
Subsection (5) lists the matters that information given or published under subsections (3) and (4) may relate to, without limiting the general power. For an education agent, those matters are:
- the number of applications for student visas made by or on behalf of students recruited or otherwise dealt with by an education agent that have been granted, refused or withdrawn, or are invalid;
- the number of student visas granted to students recruited or otherwise dealt with by an education agent that have been cancelled or have ceased to be in effect;
- the number of students accepted for enrolment in courses provided by registered providers, where those students were recruited or otherwise dealt with by the education agent; and
- the completion rates of accepted students recruited or otherwise dealt with by education agents.
These are expressed as counts and rates attached to "accepted students" or to students "recruited or otherwise dealt with by" the agent, rather than as a judgement about any single application.
Does the law publish a single "grant rate" for an agent?
No. Subsection (5)(a) breaks student visa applications into four separate counts — granted, refused, withdrawn and invalid — rather than combining them into one percentage. Subsection (4) says the Secretary "may cause to be published" information about agents, so the counts appear only if that power is exercised for a given agent or dataset. If you are shown a headline "grant rate", it is a derived figure built from these counts, not a term the Act itself publishes.
What do "refused", "withdrawn" and "invalid" mean in the published counts?
Under subsection (5)(a), the counts are of applications "made by or on behalf of students recruited or otherwise dealt with by" the agent. "Refused" refers to applications that were refused; "withdrawn" refers to applications that were withdrawn; and "invalid" refers to applications that are invalid. Because each outcome is counted separately, a large number of refused applications is visible on its own rather than being netted off against grants.
Can cancelled or ceased student visas be published?
Yes. Subsection (5)(b) covers the number of student visas granted to students recruited or otherwise dealt with by an education agent that have been cancelled or have ceased to be in effect. This looks only at visas that were granted and later cancelled or stopped being in effect; it is a different measure from a refusal, which means the visa was never granted in the first place.
What is publishable versus what may be given to registered providers?
Section 175 separates two channels: the Secretary may publish information about agents under subsection (4), and information may be given to registered providers under subsection (3). Subsection (5) lists the visa and study metrics for both channels, while subsection (6) adds transfers and commissions only for information given under subsection (3).
| Metric | May be published by the Secretary | Expressly listed for information given to registered providers |
|---|---|---|
| Student visa applications granted, refused, withdrawn or invalid | Yes — subsection (5)(a) | Yes — subsection (5)(a) |
| Student visas granted that were cancelled or ceased to be in effect | Yes — subsection (5)(b) | Yes — subsection (5)(b) |
| Number of students accepted for enrolment | Yes — subsection (5)(c) | Yes — subsection (5)(c) |
| Completion rates of accepted students | Yes — subsection (5)(d) | Yes — subsection (5)(d) |
| Transfers between providers or between courses | Not in the publication list | Yes — subsection (6)(a)–(b) |
| Education agent commission information | Not in the publication list | Yes — subsection (6)(c) |
So transfers between providers or courses, and commission information, are expressly contemplated for providers; they are not among the matters listed for publication in subsection (5).
How should you read any published agent figures?
Treat any published counts as general context about an agent's reported activity, not as a personalised prediction, and note that this article explains the legal framework only — it is not personalised advice about your own visa prospects, so confirm the current official position or get guidance from a qualified professional before relying on any figure. Suppose an applicant is comparing two agents: one might show many granted applications and also many refusals, while another shows a small number of applications that were nearly all granted. Neither set of counts becomes a "good" or "bad" agent by itself, because the Act does not set a threshold, and completion rates and enrolment numbers in subsections (5)(c) and (5)(d) are separate again. The safest reading is to look at whether the counts are published at all, whether they separate refusals from withdrawals and invalid applications, and whether the underlying official text is still current.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is an education agent's student visa grant rate published automatically in 2026?
No. As of the September 2026 official page of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 section 175, the Secretary may publish information about education agents; the provision is discretionary. What the Act lists is the number of applications granted, refused, withdrawn or invalid, not a required grant-rate percentage.
Which student visa results can the Secretary publish about an education agent?
The Act lists four outcome counts for student visa applications linked to students recruited or otherwise dealt with by the agent: granted, refused, withdrawn, and invalid. It separately lists the number of student visas granted to those students that were later cancelled or ceased to be in effect. These are counts of applications and visas, not a combined success rate.
Can the government publish how many of an agent's students had a student visa cancelled?
Yes. Subsection (5)(b) of section 175 covers the number of student visas granted to students recruited or otherwise dealt with by an education agent that have been cancelled or have ceased to be in effect. This is a separate metric from refusals, because it looks at visas that were granted first and later stopped being in effect.
Are education agent commissions made public under section 175?
Not in the publication list. Subsection (6) says information about education agent commissions may be given to registered providers under subsection (3), along with transfer numbers between providers and between courses. The matters listed for publication in subsection (5) are the visa outcome counts, enrolment numbers and completion rates.
What is the difference between information given to providers and information published?
Subsection (3) allows information about an agent's functions to be given to registered providers, and subsection (6) expressly extends that to transfers and commissions. Subsection (4) allows the Secretary to publish information, and subsection (5) sets out the visa and study metrics that may be given or published. In short, some matters are expressly for providers, while the visa and completion metrics may also be published.
Where can I check the legal basis for publishing education agent data?
The basis is section 175 of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000, "Giving information to relevant bodies etc.", on the Australian Government's Federal Register of Legislation. The official page as of September 2026 is the version used for this article; because legislative text can be amended, confirm the current official text before relying on any specific provision.