Has Anyone Used AI to Apply for a Visa to Australia?

eman resu on 13/09/2025 - 11:04
Last edited 13/09/2025 - 13:01 by 1 other user

My cousin wants to come study in Australia, and I went to a few different agents, and they all say the same thing, pay $300 - $5000 for us to do the visa. The thing is, I don't want her to pay so much, the whole thing is DIY on the department website and it's not a hard process.

But she is afraid to get rejected as its a $2000 application fee. There are people on Reddit who suggested using AI to do the application, has anyone ever had any experience?

I used ChatGPT once to ask about my pregnancy and it told me to get an abortion, so I am not sure if I can trust it with such a thing lol

Please OzB fam, help a girl out!

Education & Work Artificial Intelligence

Comments

  • Muppet Detector on 13/09/2025 - 11:13
    +7

    AI is as reliable as Wikipedia.

    Not a great idea to use either for something as significant as a visa.

    • OZBargainer in SA on 14/09/2025 - 09:51
      +2

      With the current state of AI, I agree. It's like a work experience kid that will overconfidently give an answer without attribution to sources.
      So they're right most of the times but you'd still be wondering if you need to check their work…..

  • DingoBilly on 13/09/2025 - 11:20
    +8

    If your friend knows what they're doing and can adequately check it all then yes.

    But if they can do that already they don't really need an AI.

    That's the whole issue with AI - it will generate answers that can sound great, but whether they're right or actually helpful is another thing. I have had plenty of times for work where it'll give me an answer that's just complete bullshit although sounds correct if you don't know better.

    Best to stick with the agents here unfortunately - if the visa application itself was $100 I'd be willing to risk it, but at $2000 it's not something worth getting wrong.

    • Muppet Detector on 13/09/2025 - 12:58
      +1

      . I have had plenty of times for work where it'll give me an answer that's just complete bullshit although sounds correct if you don't know better.

      Me too! Constantly finding incorrect legal answers lately. If I didn't know any better, they'd sound great and I'd let them through to the keeper no worries.

  • holdenmg on 13/09/2025 - 11:32
    +2

    Look @
    https://www.studyaustralia.gov.au/en/plan-your-move/visa-app…

    Read Step 9
    Apply using ImmiAccount

  • bargaino on 13/09/2025 - 11:33

    I use AI for help with complex tasks, and it is great. If a step does not work, I can tell it what happened and resolve the issue.

    A visa application is much simpler, but you have to get it right the first time.
    If I had a legal problem, say I need to write a contract or respond to a letter, I could get an AI to do it for me, and then take the contract to a real lawyer to check it out for me. A short consult would cost a fraction of what the lawyer would have charged to write it for me.

    Looking for a way to do that with the visa application. Use AI to write it, then get it checked. Unfortunately, immigration agents, especially in certain countries make lawyers look honest and ethical.

    It is not rocket science. Perhaps the school they are going to would have someone to check it over for free or a small fee?

  • sumyungguy on 13/09/2025 - 11:37
    +1

    Please head over to r/AusVisa

  • rumblytangara on 13/09/2025 - 11:48
    +27

    WTF. The internet is making everyone dumber.

    When we did a visa application for a family member around COVID we <gasp> manually filled out the application forms ourselves. The only annoying part was listing ten years of travel history because of the amount of travel they'd done.

    Frankly, and I am sure this will attract downvotes, if someone is so incapable that they cannot fill out visa paperwork then they shouldn't be coming to the country to study.

  • frondono on 13/09/2025 - 11:56

    I saved this from a while ago

    https://old.reddit.com/r/AusVisa/comments/17l9ly3/guide_to_a…

  • AustriaBargain on 13/09/2025 - 12:10
    +1

    Unless you enjoy learning government processes and doing lots of research, you probably better off paying a service to do it for you.

    • eman resu on 13/09/2025 - 14:39
      -2

      $300 for a consultation, and $4000 for an application. And no guarantee. That is the quote I got from a lawyer at my church.

      • dcep on 14/09/2025 - 00:04

        her home country's student visa agent will charge a lot cheaper

        • eman resu on 14/09/2025 - 13:51

          she lives in canada, they are more expensive.

  • Banks on 13/09/2025 - 12:27
    +3

    Applying for a student visa does not require use of Artificial Intelligence, and I could not think of any part of the application form that requires any essay to be written unless you are planning to write up a fake story to tell to the Administrative Review Tribunal…

    Is the latter what you are worried about?

    • eman resu on 13/09/2025 - 14:40
      -3

      They ask for submisison on genuine temporary entrant. This is subjectively review, not objective. So if the case officer believes you want to stay longer they can reject.

  • Stealtho on 13/09/2025 - 12:49
    -2

    AU is full

    • JIMB0 on 13/09/2025 - 16:12
      +4

      You’re right. Forget immigration. What AU really needs is a solid emigration policy, starting with dole bludgers, crackheads, and maybe the blokes who reckon “AU is full”. Clean the place up and make room for some better people to come in. MAGA

      • reactor-au on 14/09/2025 - 08:00
        -3

        AU is full.
        It's not about space, it's about capacity of housing, infrastructure and public services.

        Look at what happened to housing and rent prices in NZ and Canada when they cut and froze immigration respectively.

        • JIMB0 on 14/09/2025 - 08:42
          +5

          Exactly, get rid of the dregs and suddenly housing, health, and public transport all look a lot better. A crackhead on the train takes up a 4 seats as no one wants to sit next to them, a dole bludger takes up a rental that could be occupied by workers, "Au is full" people are clogging up the health system - export the lot and you’ve solved housing, health, and crime before the next election.

          • Muppet Detector on 14/09/2025 - 14:00

            @JIMB0: Sooo, where do you propose sending those people if they don't want to go?

            • JIMB0 on 14/09/2025 - 15:06
              +1

              @Muppet Detector: That’s the hard part, no one would take them. So we fence off a chunk of the Nullarbor, ship em out there, and let them start their own nation. With all that space they can hardly complain that "AU is full".

              • Muppet Detector on 14/09/2025 - 15:09
                +1

                @JIMB0: Good point!

                I suppose they wouldn't need schools, hospitals or even money out there, eh?

                Although, they'd at least have employment seeing as how they have to build that fence an' all.

                That'll sure fix it all up.

                I don't know why nobody's thought of doing that before…

                Oh, wait…

                JIMBO for Prime Minister!

              • Muppet Detector on 14/09/2025 - 15:25

                @JIMB0: Another question, if we just ship em all off to the middle of nowhere with no supervision and no oversight, if there's nothing else to do but build that fence, how do you stop em breeding like rabbits and just perpetuating the cycle?

                I doubt that Darwinism will sort that out.

                Granted that big arse fence in Qld largely sorted out their rabbit problem, but a fair few rabbits seem to keep finding their way in.

                We're allowed to shoot the rabbits. Prolly won't go over as well if we start shooting humans tho.

                Crikey, we couldn't even make people stay put during Covid.

  • joka on 13/09/2025 - 12:50
    +1

    Why don’t you do it for her

  • Nutrino on 13/09/2025 - 13:03
    +5

    Troll post.

  • freefall101 on 13/09/2025 - 14:38
    +1

    People need to understand that "AI" is a generic term. This is like asking the question "how do I use a computer to fill out a visa?"

    If you just want it to help format the text written, then sure, a language model will work well.

    If you want to actually fill out an application as well as one of these agencies that charge money, build a bot that is fine tuned to complete visa applications, preferably trained off successful applications from the past (a few thousand of them, maybe). Then collect every piece of information you can, dropping in an entire email inbox would be a good start and have a set of bots trained to pick out the data specific to the application. I know nothing about student visas, but for PR for example being able to find all the photos and travel details would be really useful.

    Alternatively, build a time machine and jump forward until we've hit the point of AGI. When the likes of Altman talk about AGI, this is what they mean. Given a general task it will be able to complete it as well as a human. We are nowhere near that point with AI, so you shouldn't trust it on a process like this.

  • MS Paint on 13/09/2025 - 14:48
    +2

    told me to get an abortion

    I'm calling BS

    • eman resu on 13/09/2025 - 14:59
      -6

      so cute ;)

  • Nonce on 13/09/2025 - 16:01
    +2

    shes gonna be bringing over the fam over after

  • 2esc on 14/09/2025 - 09:05

    Dont use Ai on important things its more often wrong and can leave out valuable information.

    • eman resu on 14/09/2025 - 12:18
      -1

      I agree, but the cost of lawyers is too high. Anyway I signed up for an Ai that is supervised by a lawyer. $50 in credit already provided too

      • kiitos on 14/09/2025 - 12:49

        Which one is that?

      • bargaino on 14/09/2025 - 12:55
        +1

        Sounds super dodgy.

      • Muppet Detector on 14/09/2025 - 13:06
        +1

        I bet you didn't.

  • doctordv8 on 14/09/2025 - 13:04
    +1

    You can sort via research truth and fact, compared to gibberish and hearsay.

    AI cannot.

    Try using Agents in her home country perhaps for an economical option.

  • Visa Specialist on 14/09/2025 - 19:23
    +1

    I comment as someone with an Immigration Law Qualification, what I can see of the current state of immigration

    (1)
    The reason agents and lawyers charge money is:
    electricity is not free, internet is not free, our law degrees arent free, our time on earth is finite and has an opportunity cost (time away from family etc to do both the research needed to do a good job and the time to fill your forms and counsel you on providing the right documents and evidence) so, paying someone for their expertise and time is normal. Your boss pays you to turn up for work, so we cant all work for free. I dont own a house (not even a mortgage) and I rent because I dont charge a lot, but I still need to charge something so I can feed myself. If you are doing free consults, the results will generally be: I can fix your problem if you pay here, because everyone else is doing the same, plumbers, doctors, electricians etc. no one is void of living costs. You aren't just paying for the time to tell you the answer, you're also paying for the time it took for them to become good at this (research time of reading 100s of pages of data that you haven't read, experience you don't have in a variety of circumstances etc)

    (2)
    People in the thread saying 'use a student agent in your home country' or 'use someone unqualified in your country' need to understand:
    those people get money from the school, they want the visa to come out so they can get paid, so they will say anything to onboard you (for some of them, that includes lying about your future visa prospects, offering 'free' lodgement services etc) but they dont have law degrees and are as clueless as you. They are Googling the answers. If you give the visa to them, its the same as handing it to chatGPT or your cousin or the neighbourhood dentist.

    (3)
    AI is terrible at present, because its designed to reaffirm all your thoughts regardless of if they are delusional or not.
    Someone wanting to lodge a partner visa from a student visa asked if they could cancel their student visa and stop studying and stay on the bridging visa instead, and it said yes.
    The answer is yes its possible to cancel a student visa, but it would also leave the person unlawful "illegal" with no visa. Also, it is impossible to stay on the bridging visa because if the student visa is cancelled the BVA is cancelled with it.
    AI is not smart enough yet.

    (4)
    Hire someone qualified or do it yourself, but know, qualified people have insurance, you don't. They read the law, you haven't. If you DIY, you are putting your future in the hands of your ability to google someone's law degree worth of contents, while law is public facing but not on the immigration website and policy is not publicly available but agents and lawyers purchase access, to be able to know more than chatGPT and the general public combined. Not every agent or lawyer may be doing their reading and research, but if they are, they can definitely know more than any of you about the process. This is the blunt truth about the present. AI may improve, but for now its not good enough. Also, we can tell when you use AI, you sound like a robot, not a human or yourself, if I was a case officer I'd be less inclined to approve statements written by AI, as they aren't genuine, they are performative. They cant tell if you actually want to study, if someone wrote a performative piece for you, instead of how you really feel.

    So the bottom line is, hire someone diligent and hardworking who is qualified, or coin toss on your ability to get it right while guessing, these are your options.

    Best of luck OP.

    If you will DIY, read this first:

    https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-li…

    and then do your own work. Its the most useful info of whats publicly available.

    Posting anon so I don't need to sugarcoat this. GG.

  • Visa Specialist on 14/09/2025 - 19:51

    Also anon, they legally aren't allowed to guarantee a result, so saying 'we cant promise you a good result, even if you pay us' is a legal required (by law) disclaimer that we all have to say, because ultimately its immigration's decision if your visa is granted, not ours. Saying 'its out of our control' is a truth. But we also know better about the process than you because its our area of specialisation, so qualified people generally would do a better job than you on average.

    I personally wouldn't want to lodge a dog water application from my own legal identity, if I want to keep my qualifications and ability to pay my living costs and not waste all the time it took to study my law degree etc., so if I thought it would be refused, I wouldn't touch it, but that's me. Not everyone has ethics.

    Find someone who genuinely cares about your future and is qualified and pay for their time, or DIY and pray to all the gods of all the religions, you need luck on your side and literacy skills, if you're going to go it alone. You need to do the actual reading and writing yourself, not a bot that often gets it wrong. Either make the effort to learn about the system, or delegate/outsource that task to someone qualified who already knows more. Same as learning plumbing off youtube…dont make a mess.

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