Save up: students to need more for an Australian visa

International students will soon need close to $30,000 in savings to get a visa to study in Australia.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil announced from Friday, international students must show proof of savings worth $29,710.

Last year, the government increased the threshold from $21,041 to $24,505.

The move follows a crackdown on dodgy education providers and efforts to lower Australia's migration levels.

Ms O'Neil said her department had sent the first tranche of warning letters to 34 education providers for "non-genuine or exploitative recruitment practices".

They have been given six months to improve their behaviour or risk being issued with suspensions from recruiting further students.

English language requirements for students from overseas have also been strengthened.

Ms O'Neil said the measures would help weed out the "bottom feeders" in the international education sector.

"The migration system we inherited was completely broken, and our goal is to build a smaller, better planned, more strategic migration system that works for Australia," she said.

"We are significantly reducing migration levels - we are in the middle of the biggest drop in migration numbers in Australia's history, outside of war or pandemic."