Australia's Student-Visa Reform Takes Legal Effect on 2 October: Most Onshore Applications and New Family Members Are Out

Australia's student-visa overhaul is now law. On 1 October 2026 the Governor-General signed the Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026, and Assistant Minister Julian Hill signed two companion instruments; all three were registered that day and commence on 2 October. From that date a Student visa (subclass 500) holder who wants another one as the main applicant must generally be outside Australia when they apply, holders of 17 other temporary visas cannot lodge a Student visa onshore at all, and partners and children can no longer be included in a student's application or added later unless a listed exemption applies. The rules apply to applications made on or after 2 October; anything lodged before that date, including applications with family members, is assessed under the old rules.

Background

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced the package at the National Press Club on 17 September 2026, saying the government would treat its net overseas migration forecasts of 245,000 for 2026 and 225,000 from the 2027 financial year as targets, and that "visa hopping" between courses and providers would "come to an end as a model". Australia had 609,678 Student visa holders at 31 March 2026, down 9.4 per cent on a year earlier, according to Home Affairs data. In the last financial year the department granted 337,427 student visas, 45,991 of them to family members, according to official figures reported by The Indian Sun. Burke said families already in Australia would not be separated and that Pacific, ASEAN and doctoral exceptions would remain; the instruments follow that outline. GoMate covered the Working Holiday changes from the same package in September (/news/australia-urgent-farm-work-whm-visa-priority-september-2026).

What exactly changed

Three rules sit at the core. First, a current Student visa holder who applies for a further Student visa as the primary applicant must be outside Australia at lodgement and at grant. The exemptions are Defence, Foreign Affairs, school and doctoral students, students whose provider defaulted (if they apply within 12 months), students who need up to 12 more months to finish their principal course with the same provider, and students who have completed their principal course and are enrolled in no more than one further course at a higher Australian Qualifications Framework level, where higher education must lead to higher education at a higher-education provider. The Home Affairs factsheet also lets school leavers move to a course without an AQF level, and students finishing a non-AQF course move to one that has an AQF level. Second, instrument LIN 26/102 lists the visas whose holders cannot make a valid Student visa application in Australia: subclasses 400, 403 (Domestic Worker stream), 407, 408, 417, 457, 462, 482 in both its Skills in Demand and Temporary Skill Shortage forms, 485, 600, 601, 602, 651, 771, 988 and 995, replacing the earlier precluded-visas instrument. Third, family members can be included only if the student is a Defence or Foreign Affairs student, holds a Pacific-regional or ASEAN passport, is a doctoral student, holds a foreign-government scholarship, or is finishing a course after provider default or within the 12-month completion window; or if the family member already held a dependant Student visa on 2 October, had a pending dependant application later granted, or is a child born in Australia on or after 2 October to a student. Family members must apply at the same time and in the same location as the student, and the factsheet says nobody can be added after grant, with no exemptions.

Who it affects and what to do

A bachelor's graduate who planned a second bachelor's degree at a different provider now has to leave Australia to apply, because the course-progression exemption requires a higher AQF level. A master's student who wanted a partner to join them next year cannot add them. A visitor intending to enrol and switch onshore cannot do so, and a Temporary Graduate (485) holder who wants to return to study must apply from overseas. A doctoral candidate, a student from Fiji or Indonesia, or an Australia Awards scholar can still include a partner and children, provided everyone applies together. Dependants who already hold a Student visa on 2 October keep it and can be included in the student's next application, but a dependant who wants to become the main student must apply from outside Australia unless an exemption applies. Three checks follow from this. Anyone whose Student visa expires within the next year should look at the completion-of-studies exemption: up to 12 months beyond the end date on the confirmation of enrolment, same provider, same principal course. Students planning a new course should map the AQF levels before enrolling, since a sideways move now means an offshore application and time outside Australia while it is decided. Families should decide before the student applies whether a partner will be included, because the option disappears at grant. The Home Affairs factsheet carries the exemption list; our Australia guide (/country-guides/australia) covers the surrounding settings.