Major changes to Australia’s Student visa rules commenced on 2 October 2026.
The changes affect three particularly important areas:
The changes are significant because they substantially reduce the ability to use successive temporary visas and Student visas to remain in Australia.
However, the new rules are more nuanced than simply saying that “Student visas can no longer be lodged onshore.”
There are important exceptions. Some existing Student visa holders can still apply for another Student visa in Australia—for example, certain students progressing to higher-level study, PhD students, students who need additional time to complete their existing course, and students affected by provider default.
For future students, the changes also make planning before lodging the first Student visa application much more important, particularly where partners or children are involved.
The Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026 amended the validity requirements in Schedule 1 of the Migration Regulations 1994.
Home Affairs describes the reforms as changing who can apply for and be granted a Student visa or Student Guardian visa while in Australia, as well as whether family members can be included.
There are several separate changes, and they should not be confused with each other.
A person may be:
There are also separate restrictions concerning secondary applicants and family members.
Sometimes.
The starting position under the new rules is that a person who already holds a Student visa and wants another Student visa as the primary applicant must be outside Australia when applying.
However, there are important exceptions.
Existing Student visa holders may still be able to apply for another Student visa while in Australia in circumstances including:
The precise requirements differ depending on which exception is being relied upon.
This means that simply asking, “Can a Student visa holder still extend their visa in Australia?” no longer produces a reliable yes-or-no answer.
The reason the additional visa is required, the course already undertaken, the proposed next course, the AQF level, the education provider and the student’s existing visa circumstances can all be important.
Consider a student undertaking a Master’s degree whose Student visa will expire before they can finish the course.
The student does not necessarily have to leave Australia simply because another Student visa is required.
One of the new exceptions applies to certain Student visa holders who need additional time to complete the principal course for which their existing visa was granted.
To fall within this class, the student must, among other requirements, have commenced that principal course—or an eligible alternative principal course with the same provider—and not yet completed it.
The course must also be expected to be completed within 12 months of the end date stated on the Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) for that principal course.
Daniel’s Master’s degree was originally expected to finish in December 2026, but he requires additional time to complete it. His Student visa will expire before completion.
If Daniel continues to meet the specific requirements of the completion-of-studies exception and will finish within the permitted 12-month period, he may be able to apply for another Student visa without leaving Australia.
However, this exception should not be read as a general 12-month extension available to every student. Its requirements are specific.
Another important exception concerns genuine course progression.
A Student visa holder who has completed their principal course may potentially apply for another Student visa in Australia where they are enrolled in no more than one further course and satisfy the progression requirements.
Where the completed principal course has an AQF level, the new course must have a higher AQF level. The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) ranks Australian qualifications from Level 1 to Level 10, with higher levels representing more advanced study. For example, a Diploma is Level 5, a Bachelor Degree Level 7, a Master’s Degree Level 9, and a Doctoral Degree (PhD) Level 10.
There is an additional requirement where the completed course was a higher education course: the next course must also be a higher education course delivered by a higher education provider.
Maria completes a Bachelor degree at AQF level 7 and enrols in a Master’s degree at AQF level 9.
That is the type of upward academic progression contemplated by the new exception, subject to Maria satisfying all the other Student visa requirements.
Compare that with a student who completes a Bachelor degree and then decides to undertake a Diploma at a lower AQF level.
Even if that Diploma makes sense to the student personally or professionally, it does not satisfy the higher-AQF requirement for this particular onshore application exception.
That distinction is important: having a genuine reason for studying a course and being legally entitled to lodge the Student visa application while in Australia are separate questions.
The legislation also deals specifically with this situation.
If the student’s completed principal course did not have an AQF level, the further course will generally need to have an AQF level.
There is a separate provision for school students.
This means applicants should not simply compare course names. The classification of the previous and proposed courses can determine whether the onshore exception is available.
Doctoral students receive specific treatment under the new rules.
A person seeking to satisfy the primary Student visa criteria can fall within the doctoral student exception where, at the time of making the visa application, they are enrolled in a course of study leading to the award of a doctoral degree.
Accordingly, eligible doctoral students may continue to have an onshore pathway to another Student visa.
Doctoral students are also important in relation to the new family-member rules discussed below.
There is also protection for students affected by provider default.
The new instrument defines provider default to include circumstances where a registered course does not start on the agreed starting day, ceases before completion or is not provided in full, including specified situations involving sanctions, suspension or cancellation of the provider’s registration.
An affected student may potentially apply for another Student visa onshore where the detailed requirements are met.
These include that the student:
An international student’s college closes halfway through their course.
The student finds another registered provider, but the new provider does not give full credit for all study already completed. As a result, the replacement course extends beyond the student’s existing visa.
The new rules recognise this situation. Subject to satisfying the specific provider-default provisions and the other Student visa requirements, the student may be able to apply for the necessary further Student visa in Australia.
This is one of the most consequential parts of the reforms.
The classes of visa holders prevented from making an onshore Student visa application now include holders of:
This does not necessarily mean that a person holding one of these visas is prohibited from ever obtaining a Student visa.
Rather, the restriction concerns making the Student visa application while in Australia.
Where the rules prevent an onshore application, Home Affairs states that the person will need to be outside Australia both when the application is lodged and when the Student visa is granted.
Luca is in Australia on a subclass 417 Working Holiday visa.
While in Australia, he decides that he wants to undertake a two-year Master’s degree.
Under the rules applying from 2 October 2026, Luca cannot simply lodge his subclass 500 Student visa application in Australia while holding the subclass 417 visa.
If he wishes to pursue the Student visa pathway, he will generally need to leave Australia and make the application from outside Australia.
An employee holds a subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa but decides to change direction and undertake full-time study.
The fact that the proposed study may be genuine does not remove the Schedule 1 location restriction.
A subclass 482 holder is within the specified class prevented from lodging the Student visa application in Australia.
This distinction is extremely important.
Being entitled to make a valid Student visa application and satisfying the requirements for the grant of the Student visa are different matters.
Leaving Australia may resolve the location requirement for an applicant who cannot lodge onshore. It does not mean that the Student visa will automatically be granted.
The applicant must still satisfy the applicable Student visa criteria, including the Genuine Student requirement.
Accordingly, someone who has already spent a significant period in Australia on temporary visas should not assume that briefly leaving Australia and submitting a Student visa application offshore makes their previous immigration history irrelevant.
The proposed course, previous education, employment history, immigration history and reasons for undertaking the proposed study may remain important to the assessment.
The reforms also significantly change the position for partners and dependent children.
From 2 October 2026, the general rule is that Student visa applicants cannot include family members in their application unless an exemption applies.
Home Affairs confirms that the restriction applies both to new Student visa applicants and people making an application for a further Student visa.
There are, however, specified exceptions.
Depending on the circumstances, family members may still be able to be included where the primary applicant falls within categories including:
The precise requirements are not identical across these categories. For example, the legislative instrument specifically provides classes for family members of doctoral students, qualifying foreign-government scholarship students, students affected by provider default, and students seeking additional time to complete their studies.
Amir is applying for a Student visa to undertake a PhD and wants his spouse to accompany him.
The new rules do not impose an absolute prohibition on Amir including his spouse.
LIN 26/087 expressly creates a class for a person seeking to satisfy the secondary Student visa criteria who is a member of the family unit of a primary applicant enrolled in a course leading to the award of a doctoral degree.
The spouse must, of course, still satisfy the applicable secondary criteria and other visa requirements.
This is where the reforms are particularly significant.
Current Student visa holders can no longer add family members as subsequent entrants after the Student visa has been granted.
Home Affairs expressly states that there are no exemptions to this rule.
This creates a major planning issue for future applicants.
Before lodging, a couple decides that one partner will travel to Australia as the student. The other partner intends to remain overseas for six months, finish their employment and then apply to join the student as a dependant.
That strategy now requires very careful consideration.
Applicants should not assume that a partner can simply be added as a subsequent entrant after the primary Student visa has been granted.
If the family qualifies for an exemption allowing family members to be included, consideration should be given to the family composition and visa strategy before the primary Student visa application is lodged.
This is one of the most important practical consequences of the reforms.
There are important transitional protections for some families who were already in the Student visa program when the new rules commenced.
For example, a person who was in Australia and already held a subclass 500 visa as a secondary visa holder on 2 October 2026 may still be able to apply as a secondary applicant in a further Student visa application where the same primary applicant is applying for the new Student visa.
The protection can also extend to a secondary applicant who was in Australia and had applied for their Student visa before 2 October 2026, but whose visa was not granted until on or after commencement, provided the relevant requirements are met.
There are also specific provisions for certain children born in Australia on or after 2 October 2026 to existing or qualifying Student visa holders.
Importantly, where a family member is applying together with the primary Student visa applicant, their application must be made at the same time and place as, and combined with, the primary applicant’s application.
These provisions protect certain existing Student visa families, but they do not recreate the former subsequent entrant pathway. A student cannot simply obtain their Student visa and later decide to add a partner or child. Whether an existing family can apply together for a further Student visa will depend on the precise transitional provisions or another applicable exemption.
Another practical consequence of the changes is the requirement concerning combined applications.
The Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026 amended paragraph 1222(3)(e) so that, where the provision applies, the secondary applicant’s application must be made at the same time and place as, and combined with, the primary applicant’s application.
Home Affairs summarises the practical effect by stating that the primary applicant and all family members included in the application must be in the same location when the application is lodged.
For families split between Australia and overseas, this is something that needs to be considered before lodging.
Another less-publicised change concerns former Student visa holders.
Previously, Schedule 1 contained a pathway that could allow certain former Student or Student Guardian visa holders whose substantive visa had ceased within the preceding 28 days to make a Student visa application in Australia.
The 2026 amendments removed that general provision.
A much narrower provision now exists for certain people whose Student visa was cancelled and where the Administrative Review Tribunal subsequently set aside and substituted the cancellation decision, or the decision not to revoke cancellation, after the earlier visa had already ceased.
Among other requirements, the new application must be made within the specified 28-day period following notification of the ART decision.
This means applicants should no longer assume that simply being within 28 days of their previous Student visa expiring gives them an onshore Student visa pathway.
The reforms apply to visa applications made on or after commencement of the amendments.
Applications lodged before 2 October 2026 continue to be assessed under the application rules that applied when they were lodged.
Home Affairs expressly confirms that this includes applications lodged before the reforms that included family members.
One of the broader practical consequences of the reforms is that students should think beyond simply asking:
“Can I enrol in this course?”
They should also consider:
“What will this course mean for my next visa application?”
For an existing Student visa holder, changing educational direction may have consequences for whether another Student visa can be lodged from within Australia.
For example, the new course-progression exception specifically requires a higher AQF level where the completed principal course has an AQF level. If the completed course was a higher education course, the next course must also be a higher education course delivered by a higher education provider.
A student who enrols in a course first and considers their visa position afterwards may therefore discover that the course does not provide the onshore Student visa pathway they expected.
Before paying substantial tuition fees or making travel arrangements, an existing temporary visa holder should consider:
These questions should ideally be answered before enrolling, paying significant course fees or arranging travel.
The 2 October 2026 reforms do not close Australia’s Student visa program, nor do they mean that every Student visa applicant currently in Australia must leave the country.
What they do is substantially narrow the circumstances in which people can move into, or continue on, Student visas from within Australia.
The distinction matters.
A genuine student who needs several additional months to finish their existing Master’s degree may still have an onshore pathway.
A Bachelor graduate progressing to an eligible higher-level Master’s degree may also have an onshore pathway.
A qualifying PhD student may be able to apply in Australia and may fall within an exemption allowing eligible family members to be included.
By contrast, a Working Holiday or subclass 482 visa holder who decides to become an international student generally cannot simply lodge a Student visa application while remaining in Australia.
And perhaps most importantly for families, the old assumption that “the student can go first and the family can be added later” can no longer safely be made.
The correct strategy now depends not simply on whether someone wants to study in Australia, but on their current visa, current and previous studies, proposed course, AQF progression, family circumstances and location at the time of application.
The rules applying from 2 October 2026 are highly dependent on individual circumstances.
Whether you are offshore and considering applying for a Student visa, or already in Australia and planning further study, changing from another temporary visa to a Student visa, applying for a further Student visa, or including family members, obtaining advice before enrolling in a course or making travel arrangements can help you understand your visa options, where you are permitted to apply, and the requirements you will need to meet.
Book a visa consultation with one of our registered migration agents at Heenan & Browne Visa and Migration Services in Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairn or Melbourne.
This article provides general information only and does not constitute immigration assistance or advice for your individual circumstances. Australian migration legislation and policy can change, and eligibility must be assessed against the law and policy applicable to the particular application.
30 September, 2026
23 September, 2026
