Better Places Life

Last checked: 17 September 2026. Scope: primary and secondary
public/state schooling for migrant families in New South Wales, England
and New Zealand. School admission, immigration status and fee liability
are separate questions, and individual visa subclasses can change the
result. This is general educational information, not immigration or
education-law advice.

A family can move to a country where the local school is called
“public” or “state-funded” and still face a five-figure education
bill.

The trap is not simply that one country charges and another does not.
The same jurisdiction can produce very different outcomes depending on
the parent’s visa, the child’s visa, where the family lives, and
the education sector attached to the parent’s status.

That makes school fees a relocation cost that should be tested
before signing a lease or choosing a neighbourhood.

Better Places Life has already compared school-entry
cut-off dates and when
domestic university fees and student loans begin. This guide solves
a different problem: what happens to the cost of ordinary
primary and secondary schooling while your family is still living on a
temporary migration status?

The first rule:
“public school” is not a price

Before comparing suburbs, put each child through four gates:

1. Can the child lawfully access the public/state system under
   the family’s immigration route?
2. Does the jurisdiction charge temporary residents
   tuition?
3. Does your particular visa subclass create an exemption or a
   different fee table?
4. What costs sit outside tuition—application fees, uniforms,
   excursions, transport, medical costs or language support?

If any one of those answers changes, the family budget can change by
thousands of dollars.

Three systems,
three very different questions

Place	First question to ask	Current rule to test
New South Wales	Which temporary visa does the child hold, and what is the parent’s visa/education sector?	Many temporary resident students pay NSW public-school tuition; exemptions and special rates apply
England	Do the child’s immigration conditions allow access to a state-funded school?	State-funded schools cannot use nationality or immigration status as an admissions barrier, but the child must still have immigration permission compatible with attending
New Zealand	Can the child qualify for a Dependent Child Student Visa and domestic-student treatment?	Qualifying dependent children may be treated as domestic students and therefore not pay school tuition

The useful comparison is therefore not “Australia charges, England
and New Zealand are free.” It is which legal route places your
child into which school-fee category.

New
South Wales: temporary residence can turn public school into a major
annual bill

The NSW Department of Education’s Temporary Residents Program
publishes a fee schedule for temporary resident students.

Its fee document was updated in September 2026. For a standard
temporary resident student, excluding dependants of international
students and visitor students, the 2026 annual tuition fee for 40 school
weeks is:

• A$6,400 for primary school, Kindergarten to Year
  6
• A$6,400 for junior high school, Years 7 to 10
• A$7,600 for senior high school, Years 11 to 12

A A$150 non-refundable application fee applies to
new applications.

Official source: NSW
DE International — Tuition fee structure.

The same current document lists 2027 standard temporary-resident
tuition at A$6,600 primary, A$6,700 junior high and A$7,800
senior high, so a family planning a move for the next school
year should not freeze its budget at 2026 figures.

The Better Places
three-child school-fee test

Assume a family arrives with one child in Year 4, one child in Year 8
and one child in Year 11, and all three fall under the standard 2026
temporary-resident fee table with no exemption.

Annual tuition is:

• Year 4: A$6,400
• Year 8: A$6,400
• Year 11: A$7,600

Total tuition = A$20,400.

Add three new-application fees:

3 × A$150 = A$450.

So the first-year school charge becomes:

A$20,400 + A$450 = A$20,850.

That is before uniforms, excursions, medical costs and some transport
costs. The NSW fee document specifically says the Temporary Residents
Program tuition fee does not cover school excursions, uniforms, student
medical expenses or subsidised travel under the School Student Transport
Scheme.

A family comparing rent between two cities could easily spend weeks
trying to save A$300 a month on housing while missing a school-fee
exposure worth more than A$20,000 a year.

The
parent’s student visa can change the NSW fee table again

The NSW schedule has a separate structure for dependants of
international students on visa subclass 500.

For 2026, where the primary visa-holder parent’s Confirmation of
Enrolment is in Independent ELICOS, VET or Non-Award
study, the annual school tuition is:

• A$11,200 primary
• A$12,600 junior high
• A$14,200 senior high

Using the same three-child family:

A$11,200 + A$12,600 + A$14,200 = A$38,000.

Add three A$150 application fees:

A$38,000 + A$450 = A$38,450.

That is A$17,600 more than the standard
temporary-resident example above.

This is not a claim that every student-visa family pays those
amounts. The point is the opposite: the NSW table explicitly changes
according to the parent’s education sector.

For parents studying with TAFE NSW, higher education, postgraduate
masters or certain doctorate arrangements, the 2026 table lists
A$7,800 primary, A$7,800 junior high and A$9,000 senior
high. Some dependants of a parent studying a postgraduate
doctorate at a NSW main-campus university can be tuition-fee exempt
while the published criteria are met, although the A$150 application
fee still applies.

The correct planning question is therefore not “What do temporary
residents pay?” It is “Which row of the current fee schedule
applies to our exact visa configuration?”

NSW
also has location-based relief for some skilled-worker families

NSW changed its enrolment policy from Term 1 of 2025 so
temporary-resident students can enrol at their local public school based
on residential address.

The state also waived tuition fees for eligible children of Temporary
Skill Shortage visa subclass 482 holders living in regional NSW, outside
greater Sydney and Wollongong.

Official source: NSW
Department of Education — Workers filling regional skills gaps given
access to free public schooling.

That creates a location cost that ordinary rent comparisons can miss.
For an eligible 482 family, moving from a fee-liable area to a qualifying
regional area can change the school-fee side of the household budget
before housing costs are even compared.

Do not infer eligibility from a postcode alone. Check the current
Temporary Residents Program rules against the actual visa subclass and
address.

England:
admission and immigration permission are separate gates

England takes a very different approach.

The Department for Education says children of compulsory school age
who live in England are required to receive suitable full-time
education, and foreign national children resident in the UK will
normally have the right to attend state-funded or independent
schools.

State-funded school admission authorities:

• must not refuse a child because of nationality or immigration
  status,
• must not ask for a passport or immigration information as a
  condition of admission, and
• must not remove a child from the roll on that basis.

But this does not mean every child overseas can
enter the UK on any visa and then use a state school.

Parents remain responsible for checking that the child’s UK
immigration conditions allow the child to enter and access a
state-funded school.

Official source: GOV.UK
— School applications for foreign national children and children
resident outside England.

The
Child Student visa is an important exception to simplistic “free school”
advice

GOV.UK states that unaccompanied foreign national children entering
under the Child Student visa or Student visa must study
at the independent school, sixth-form college or further-education
college sponsoring them. They cannot lawfully use that route simply to
enrol in a state-funded school.

By contrast, children under 18 entering as qualifying dependants of a
parent on certain work or student routes can usually attend school,
subject to the family’s immigration permissions.

This distinction is why “state school is free in England” is not
enough relocation advice. The family first needs an immigration route
that is compatible with state-school access.

New
Zealand: the child’s dependent status can convert the tuition
result

Immigration New Zealand’s Dependent Child Student
Visa is designed for qualifying dependent children joining a
parent with an appropriate work or student visa.

The visa can be granted for the same duration as the parent’s visa.
The current Immigration New Zealand page lists:

• cost from NZ$750,
• 80% of applications processed within 9.5 weeks,
  and
• age eligibility of 19 or younger, subject to
  dependency conditions.

Most importantly for the school budget, Immigration New Zealand
states that the child may be treated as a domestic
student, meaning the family does not pay tuition fees for
primary or secondary school.

Official source: Immigration
New Zealand — Dependent Child Student Visa.

That outcome depends on the parent holding an appropriate visa.
Immigration New Zealand also lists work visas that cannot support this
dependent-child route and additional conditions for some Accredited
Employer Work Visa holders.

So New Zealand does not provide a universal “free public school for
every temporary migrant” rule either. It provides a route where
qualifying dependent children can receive domestic-student
treatment.

The Better Places School-Fee
Gate

Before accepting a job, course or relocation package, make one row
for each child.

Field	What to record	Why it matters
Parent’s visa	Exact subclass/category and expiry	Can change the child’s route and fee table
Child’s visa/status	Exact visa or dependent status	Determines school access and domestic/temporary treatment
Destination	Country, state/province and city/region	Education rules can be regional
School level	Primary, junior secondary, senior secondary	Fee tables often change by year level
Annual tuition	Current official fee	Main recurring cost
Application/visa fees	Per child	First-year cash requirement
Exemptions	Skilled-worker, research-degree, regional or other	Can change the result to zero tuition
Non-tuition costs	Uniform, excursions, transport, medical, devices	Prevents “free tuition” becoming “free schooling” in the budget
Recheck date	Before enrolment and visa renewal	Visa or fee changes can alter the next year

Then calculate three numbers:

First-year school cash = tuition + application/visa charges +
known school add-ons.

Recurring annual school cash = tuition + recurring
add-ons.

Visa-change risk = the amount the budget would change if the
family moves into a different fee category.

That final number is especially useful for families whose parent may
change employer, course or visa status after arrival.

Do not
sign the lease before solving the school-fee line

Housing and school choice are often planned together, but migrant
families should reverse the usual order:

1. confirm the parent’s likely visa,
2. confirm each child’s immigration status,
3. identify the public-school fee category,
4. identify any location-based exemption,
5. only then compare suburbs and rent.

A cheaper home can be a false saving if it changes school access,
commute costs or the family’s eligibility for a tuition waiver.

What to ask the employer
or university

If a move is sponsored by an employer or university, ask for a
written answer to these questions before accepting the package:

• Which visa will the parent hold?
• Which visa/status will each child hold?
• Does that status make the child a domestic, temporary-resident or
  international student for public-school purposes?
• Is public-school tuition reimbursed by the employer, scholarship or
  university?
• Does the reimbursement cover application fees and future fee
  increases?
• Does the benefit continue if the parent changes course, campus,
  employer or visa?

A relocation allowance that ignores school tuition is not a complete
family relocation package.

The decision rule

Do not price a family move from the word “public.” Price it
from the family’s exact immigration status.

In NSW, a three-child family can move from no tuition under an
exemption to more than A$20,000 under the standard temporary-resident
table—or materially higher under some dependant-of-student
categories.

In England, the central risk is not a temporary-resident tuition
table but whether the child’s immigration route lawfully permits access
to state-funded school.

In New Zealand, a qualifying dependent child may be treated as a
domestic student and avoid school tuition, but the route depends on the
parent’s visa.

Those are three different systems solving three different legal
questions. A useful relocation budget has to model the system the family
will actually enter.

Official sources

• NSW
  DE International — Tuition fee structure
• NSW
  Department of Education — Workers filling regional skills gaps given
  access to free public schooling
• GOV.UK
  — School applications for foreign national children and children
  resident outside England
• Immigration
  New Zealand — Dependent Child Student Visa

Method and limitations: official sources were checked on 17
September 2026. Fee examples assume full-year 40-week NSW enrolment and
a new application for each child. They exclude private-school fees and
household-specific concessions. Visa eligibility, school admission, fee
liability and residence are separate legal questions. Confirm the
current fee schedule and immigration conditions before making a
relocation decision.

Featured image: Primary School No. 12 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki,
Poland — photo by WrS.tm.pl
on Unsplash. Editorial illustration only; the photographed school is not
presented as a school discussed in this article.