Student Visa Reform, 2 October 2026: Who Can Apply Onshore

On 2 October 2026 the rules on who can lodge a Student visa (subclass 500) from inside Australia changed. This is law, not a proposal. Three instruments commenced on the same day. Together they do three things:

• Holders of 16 temporary visa subclasses can no longer apply for a Student visa while in Australia.
• Most current Student visa holders must leave Australia to apply for the next one, unless they fit an exemption.
• Family members can only be included in a Student visa application in a small set of cases, and can no longer be added later.

This article explains the change: what it says, who it catches, who it does not, and what the options are for people caught by it. The Student visa itself — the Genuine Student requirement, money, English, health cover — is on our Student visa (subclass 500) page.

Verified against the Migration Regulations 1994, Compilation No. 289 (F2026C01017, compilation date 2 October 2026), Schedule 1 item 1222, Schedule 2 clauses 500.311 and 500.411 and Schedule 13 Part 166; the three instruments as made on legislation.gov.au; and the Migration Act 1958, Compilation No. 172 (8 October 2026), sections 47 and 48.

The three instruments

All three apply to Student visa applications made on or after 2 October 2026 (Schedule 13, clause 16601; LIN 26/087, section 24). Nothing in them touches a visa you already hold.

Rule 1: holders of these 16 visas cannot lodge a Student visa in Australia

Item 1222(4) of Schedule 1 now says that an applicant in Australia must hold a substantive visa and "not be included in a class of persons specified in an instrument under paragraph (5)(e)". That instrument is LIN 26/102. Section 6 lists the following. If your visa is on this list, an application lodged in Australia is not validly made.

The instrument has 17 rows because the 482 appears twice, once for each of its names (Skills in Demand and Temporary Skill Shortage). That is 16 subclasses.

Three things to notice:

• The list is closed. A substantive visa that is not on it still satisfies item 1222(4)(a), subject to the other rules below. Examples are a Student visa, a Student Guardian visa or a provisional skilled visa.
• Common work and graduate visas are on it. This includes the Working Holiday and Work and Holiday visas, the Skills in Demand visa and the Temporary Graduate visa.
• The Department is blunt about it. Its own page (read 25 October 2026) says: "There are no exemptions to the rule if you hold an affected temporary visa. You can only apply from outside Australia and you must be outside Australia when the visa is granted." That sentence is the Department's; the instrument itself simply lists the subclasses.

LIN 26/102 also repeals the earlier instrument of 24 September 2026 (Migration (Visas that Preclude a Person from Lodging a Student Visa Application in Australia) Instrument 2026, F2026L01282), which never operated on its own.

If you hold no substantive visa

A bridging visa is not a substantive visa, so a person on a bridging visa was never inside item 1222(4)(a). The no-substantive-visa routes have narrowed.

Before 2 October, a person whose Student visa had ceased in the previous 28 days could still lodge onshore. That limb (former subparagraph 1222(4)(b)(i)) was repealed. What remains is:

• subitem (4A), for special-purpose and certain Diplomatic (Temporary) visa cases; and
• new subitem (4B), for a person whose Student visa was cancelled and whose cancellation the Administrative Review Tribunal set aside after the visa had already ceased. They have 28 days from notification of the Tribunal's decision.

A person whose Student visa has simply expired must now apply from outside Australia.

Rule 2: current Student visa holders must apply from outside Australia unless exempt

This is the part that surprises people. New paragraph 1222(3)(aa) says an applicant who seeks to satisfy the primary criteria for a Student visa and who holds a Student visa "must be outside Australia". The only exception is a person who holds that visa as the primary holder and falls within a class in subitem (3A).

Subitem (3A) lists four classes: Defence students; Foreign Affairs students; school students (as defined in clause 500.111); and classes specified in an instrument. The instrument is LIN 20/158 as amended by LIN 26/087, Division 2, sections 16 to 19:

"Principal course" is defined in the instrument as the course with the highest AQF level among the courses the visa was granted for.

Two consequences follow directly from the words of the instrument.

First, you can only move up. Section 19 does not cover:

• a person who finished a bachelor degree and wants to do a diploma;
• a person who wants a second bachelor degree at the same level; or
• a person who finished a higher-education course and wants a VET course at a higher AQF level. This is because of the higher-education-to-higher-education rule.

Those people apply from outside Australia.

Second, a dependant on a Student visa gets no exemption. Paragraph 1222(3)(aa)(iii) applies the exemptions only "in the case that the applicant holds that visa on the basis of satisfying the primary criteria". Partners or children who hold a Student visa as a family member and now want their own Student visa must be outside Australia when they apply. The Department's page says the same thing in plain words: there are no exemptions to this rule.

You must also be outside Australia when the visa is granted

Clause 500.411 was rewritten to match. You "must be outside Australia when the visa is granted" if you were outside Australia when you applied because:

• paragraph 1222(3)(aa) required it; or
• you did not meet subitem 1222(4).

In every other case the applicant may be in or outside Australia at grant, but not in immigration clearance.

The Department adds two operational points on its changes pages (read 25 October 2026). First: "If you lodge an application in Australia when you are required to be offshore, your application will be invalid." Second: "You will not receive a Bridging visa linked to an application lodged outside Australia." Neither sentence is in the instruments, but both are consistent with how the Act works (see "If you lodge anyway" below).

Rule 3: family members can rarely be included, and never added later

Before 2 October 2026 a partner or child could be included in a Student visa application. Or they could apply later as a "subsequent entrant" to join a student already in Australia. Both routes have changed.

New paragraph 1222(3)(da) says a family member may apply only if one of six limbs applies:

Sections 20 to 23 add four classes:

• family of a student whose course or courses are "fully funded by a foreign government" (s 20);
• family of a doctoral student (s 21);
• family already on the student's current Student visa where the student is reapplying after provider default (s 22); and
• family already on the student's current Student visa where the student needs up to 12 months to complete the principal course (s 23).

The end of the subsequent-entrant route

Paragraph 1222(3)(e) changed one word. A family member's application "must be made at the same time and place as, and combined with" the student's application; it used to say "may".

Read this with the new clause 500.311. Under it, the family member must be "a member of the family unit of a person who satisfies the primary criteria". Together, this is the end of the subsequent-entrant route for new applications.

There is no limb in (da) for a partner or child outside Australia who wants to join a student who is already here on a visa granted before 2 October. The exceptions are the Pacific-regional and subitem (5A) country, Defence, Foreign Affairs, doctoral and foreign-government-scholarship cases. The Department's page (read 25 October 2026) states it directly: "Current Student visa holders are no longer able to add family members after their Student visa has been granted. There are no exemptions to this rule."

The Student Guardian visa (subclass 590) is a different visa for a parent or relative of a student under 18. The Department's hub (updated 14 October 2026) says the new rules cover "Student visa (subclass 500) and Student Guardian (subclass 590) visas". Its applying-in-Australia page adds: "Current Student Guardian (subclass 590) visa holders can continue to lodge a further Student Guardian visa application while in Australia." The 590 has its own page; this article is about the 500.

Applications made before 2 October 2026

Schedule 13, clause 16601: the amendments "apply in relation to an application for a visa made on or after the commencement of that Schedule". Section 24 of LIN 26/087 says the same for the exemptions. An application lodged on or before 1 October 2026, including one that included family members, is decided under the rules as they stood when it was lodged. The Department's page (read 25 October 2026) says such applications "will continue to be assessed under the rules that were in place when they were lodged". If you lodged in September and are waiting, the new rules do not reach your application.

If you lodge in Australia anyway

Item 1222 sets out how a Student visa application must be made. An application that does not meet it is not a valid application. Section 47(3) of the Migration Act says the Minister "is not to consider an application that is not a valid application". Section 47(4) adds that a decision that an application is not valid "is not a decision to refuse to grant the visa".

That last sentence matters for one reason. The section 48 bar is triggered by a refusal (or a cancellation) while in the migration zone. An invalid application is not a refusal, so lodging one does not by itself bring section 48 down on you.

What it does cost is time. Also, no bridging visa is attached to an application that was never valid. If your current visa expires while you are sorting it out, you have a status problem on top. Do not lodge to "test" the rule.

Announced on 17 September 2026, but not law as at 25 October 2026

The Minister's National Press Club address on 17 September 2026 announced other measures alongside the student changes. They were: a ballot of 45,000 places for second-year Working Holiday Maker visas and 5,000 for third-year; a no-further-stay condition on visitor visas; and an end to adding family members to Temporary Graduate (485) visas.

We searched the Federal Register of Legislation on 25 October 2026. The most recent instrument with "Migration" in its title was registered on 1 October 2026 (the three above). No instrument exists for the working holiday ballots, the visitor no-further-stay condition or the 485 family-member limit. Searches on "Working Holiday", "Temporary Graduate" and "Visitor" return nothing registered after 28 September 2026.

The 28 September visitor item (F2026L01313) is, by its title, an amendment to the arrangements for making visitor applications. It is not a new condition. Until an instrument is registered, those three measures are announcements:

• A 485 holder can still include family members today.
• A 417 or 462 holder's second and third year still run under the current instruments.

We will update this post when that changes.

What people caught by the change can do

None of these is advice for your case. They are the options that exist in the law as it stands, and each has its own tests.

Whichever route you take, the Genuine Student requirement still has to be met on the new application. A history of moving between visas is part of what the decision maker looks at.

Frequently asked questions

Does the 2 October 2026 change affect the Student visa I already hold? No. Clause 16601 applies the amendments to applications made on or after 2 October 2026. Your current visa, its conditions and its expiry date are unchanged.

I am on a 485. Can I apply for a Student visa in Australia? No. The 485 is item 10 in the LIN 26/102 table. You must be outside Australia when you apply and when the visa is granted. There is no exemption for 485 holders.

I hold a Student visa and want to do a master's degree after my bachelor. Can I apply here? Section 19 of LIN 20/158 lets you lodge in Australia if all four points hold:

• the bachelor was your principal course and you have completed it;
• the master's is at a higher AQF level;
• the master's is a higher education course from a higher education provider; and
• it is the only further course in your application.

Check each point against your confirmation of enrolment before you rely on it.

Can I add my partner to my Student visa? For a visa granted before 2 October 2026, no. There is no limb in paragraph 1222(3)(da) for a partner outside the exempt classes to apply later, and the Department says there are no exemptions. For a new application, your partner can be included only in the cases in the family-members table above. They must apply at the same time and place as you.

Is the working holiday ballot already in force? Not as at 25 October 2026. It was announced on 17 September 2026. No instrument has been registered on legislation.gov.au, and the current 417 and 462 arrangements instruments of 30 June 2026 do not contain a ballot for second or third-year visas.

What if I lodged my Student visa application in Australia before 2 October 2026? It is decided under the rules that applied when you lodged, including any family members in it. Clause 16601 and section 24 of LIN 26/087 both say so.

Work out which rule you are under before you do anything

Most of the harm from this change will come from two mistakes. One is lodging in Australia when the law needed you to be outside it. The other is leaving Australia when an exemption would have let you stay. Both are avoidable. The question is a factual one:

• which visa you hold, and on what basis;
• what course you finished;
• what course you are enrolling in, and when.

Migration Vision advises students, graduates and their families across Australia and offshore. Nobody can promise a grant. What we can do is check, against the instrument, whether you can lodge here or must lodge from outside Australia. Then we can plan the steps so that you do not lose status in between. Book a consultation through our contact page.

Reviewed by Dr Asad Muhammad Khan, Registered Migration Agent, MARN 2619525. Last reviewed 25 October 2026 — Schedule 1 item 1222, clauses 500.311 and 500.411, Schedule 13 clause 16601 and regulation 2.12 verified against the Migration Regulations 1994, Compilation No. 289 (F2026C01017, compilation date 2 October 2026); LIN 26/102 (F2026L01348) section 6 and LIN 26/087 (F2026L01349) sections 16 to 24 against the instruments as made on 1 October 2026; sections 47 and 48 against the Migration Act 1958, Compilation No. 172 (8 October 2026) — all on legislation.gov.au. The Department of Home Affairs' statements quoted above were read on its "Changes to Student visa application rules" pages on 25 October 2026 (hub updated 14 October; applying-in-Australia page 22 October; family-members and what-you-need-to-do pages 7 October). Figures current as at 25 October 2026; confirm with the Department of Home Affairs before lodgement. This article is general information, not migration advice for your circumstances, and the law may change.