The Bhutanese Leading the way.
About half have applied from Australia
Average visa grant rate at 80% in 12 months
The figures are in and the latest data shows that from Financial Year July 2025 to June 2026, a 12-month period, a total of 10,167 Bhutanese students and their dependents were granted visas.
This makes it the second-highest year ever since the record year of FY 2022–23 when 15,552 Bhutanese got visas to Australia.
However, it does not mean that 10,167 Bhutanese have physically moved to Australia, as 5,811 Bhutanese got visas while in Australia, which means the individuals are likely Bhutanese residents who came in earlier years and are extending their stay by taking additional courses.
This means that a total of 4,356 students and dependents moved physically from Bhutan in FY 2025–26. This would make it the third-highest physical movement of Bhutanese from Bhutan compared to the highest at 13,392 in FY 2022–23 and the second-highest at 8,564 in FY 2023–24.
The above shows that while there are still a large number of Bhutanese going from Bhutan, there are now equally large numbers, if not more, of Bhutanese in Australia opting to stay on and study more instead of coming back.
While there has been some panic with reports of high visa refusal rates, data from the Australian government shows something else.
In the last 12 months, the visa grant rate for Bhutanese was at 80%. This is even slightly better than the overall international student average of 78.2%.
Australia calculates the visa grant rate as the percentage of finalized visa decisions that result in a grant. It is determined by dividing the total number of visa grants by the total number of finalized decisions (grants plus refusals), then multiplying by 100. Withdrawals are excluded from this final outcome calculation.
However, there is a nuance in the data, as visa grant rates were higher for July to December 2025 at 89.9% compared to January to June 2026, which came down to 69.3%, meaning higher rejection rates in the first six months of 2026.
The grant rates for Bhutanese in Australia for FY 2025–26 were better at 88.9% compared to Bhutanese applying from Bhutan at 70.6%. This means that, on the whole, for Bhutanese applying from Bhutan, out of 100 applications, around 70 were being accepted and 30 were being rejected.
Of the 12 months, the highest rejection rate was seen in the month of June 2026 when only 40.3% were granted visas. An education consultant said that most of the intakes are between January and August, with the main months being February and July, so it is possible that the authorities, to keep within the 295,000 new student visas a year, may have increased visa refusals for June. It remains to be seen if the June trend continues or recovers in the next FY, 2026–27.
The consultant said education consultants are looking forward to a good year in FY 2026–27.
Of the 10,167 Bhutanese who got visas, 1,499 are between the ages of 0 and 19 years, showing an increasing trend of children leaving for Australia with their parents or joining them there later.
Another interesting point is the 30-to-49-year age group data, where 4,136 got visas, which means these are mainly the ones who arrived earlier in Australia and are opting to continue staying there with more courses and as dependents.
In terms of gender, it is almost equal, as 5,042 are male and women are slightly more at 5,125.
In terms of the total number of Bhutanese who actually got visas in Bhutan and left from here in the last four financial years, and not counting Bhutanese who renewed their visas from Australia, the total number who physically left Bhutan is 30,870, with 13,932 in FY 2022–23, 8,564 in FY 2023–24, 4,018 in FY 2024–25, and 4,356 in FY 2025–26.
Just based on the data of the last four financial years, it would be reasonable to presume that there are easily more than 30,000 Bhutanese in Australia as students and dependents, and the destination continues to be more popular than ever.
