Richard Whitten's wife, Yoona, has lived in Australia for nine years — but she still pays a premium to travel outside the country.On 1 July, the Australian government increased fees across a slew of visa categories overnight, with little warning.The visa Yoona needs just to travel — the Resident Return Visa — saw one of the steepest increases of all: hiked from $490 to $1,475, a 201 per cent rise."Every five years, we'll have to pay that if she wants to travel But a handful of visas were hit far harder.The Resident Return Visa saw a 201 per cent increase, while the Bridging Visa B rose from $190 to $575 — a 202 per cent increase.Student visas will rise from $2,000 to $2,500, while temporary graduate visa fees have increased twice — from $2,300 to $4,600 in March and now to $5,750.A Home Affairs spokesperson said that increases were intended to help ensure Australia's migration system "operates in the national interest", with revenue from the changes supporting "this reform and other government priorities"."The cost of visas remains a small proportion of the overall costs of visiting or migrating to Australia," they said.For people like Richard and Yoona, the change adds stress to an already prevalent cost of living crisis.Whitten says it could motivate his wife to pursue citizenship since she'd no longer have to pay the fee — that framing overlooks people like her who cannot hold dual citizenship."Her South Korean citizenship is too important to her," he said