Most summaries of the 2 October student visa changes stop at the headline: no more onshore applications, no more dependants. Read the three instruments that were registered on 1 October and the file-level consequences are in the conditions attached to each exemption, not in the headline.

The headline is a location rule, but whether a client can use an exemption depends on their course: its AQF level, its end date and how many courses follow it.

What came into force

Three instruments commenced on 2 October 2026:

  • the Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026, which rewrite item 1222 of Schedule 1 and clauses 500.311, 500.315 and 500.411 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations
  • the Migration (Student Visa Applications to Be Made from outside Australia) Instrument 2026 (LIN 26/102), which lists the visas that bar onshore lodgement and repeals the earlier instrument on the same subject
  • an amendment to LIN 20/158, which holds the exemptions

All apply to applications made on or after 2 October. An application lodged before that date, including one that included family, is assessed under the rules in force when it was lodged.

Who now has to be outside Australia

Two groups.

Holders of a Student visa. Under new item 1222(3)(aa), a person who holds a subclass 500, as a primary or a secondary, and wants to apply for another one must be outside Australia, unless they fall into an exempt class. That includes a dependant who holds a 500 and wants to apply in their own right. The exempt classes for primaries are listed below. There is no exempt class for a dependant applying as a primary.

Holders of one of 17 listed visas. LIN 26/102 lists the visas whose holders cannot lodge a Student visa application, or a Student Guardian visa application, while in Australia:

Group Subclasses in the instrument
Visitor and short stay 600 Visitor, 601 ETA, 651 eVisitor, 602 Medical Treatment, 771 Transit
Work and training 400 Short Stay Specialist, 407 Training, 408 Temporary Activity, 457, 482 (Skills in Demand and Temporary Skill Shortage), 988 Maritime Crew
Holiday work 417 Working Holiday, 462 Work and Holiday
Post-study 485 Temporary Graduate
Diplomatic 403 (Domestic Worker stream only), 995 (only where granted under Division 995.2)

The two groups that will matter most to an education desk are the 485 and the working holiday visas. A graduate who planned to work for a year and then enrol in a master’s, and a working holiday maker who wants to do a course, now have to leave and lodge from outside. Our 485 explainer covers the visa itself.

One narrow addition in new item 1222(4B): a person whose last substantive visa was a student visa, which was cancelled and then set aside by the ART after the visa had ceased, can still apply in Australia if they lodge within 28 days of the ART decision notification.

The exemptions, with the conditions that decide them

A Student visa holder can still lodge onshore if they are a Defence student, a Foreign Affairs student or a school student, or if they fall into one of four classes in LIN 20/158.

Class What the instrument requires Where files will trip
Doctoral Enrolled, at the time of application, in a course leading to a doctoral degree Enrolment on the day, not an intention to enrol
Provider default Could not complete a registered course because of provider default, and applies within 12 months of the provider default day Only one application per default
Completion Has commenced the principal course, has not completed it, and will complete it within 12 months of the end date on the CoE The principal course is the one with the highest AQF level. Home Affairs says the student must stay with the same provider
Progression Has completed the principal course and is enrolled in no more than one further course. The further course must have a higher AQF level. If the first was higher education, the next must be a higher education course at a higher education provider Diploma to diploma and master’s to master’s are not progression. A package of two further courses is not either

For a course with no AQF level, such as ELICOS, the further course must have one, unless the person was a school student when they did the first course.

Dependants

Item 1222(3)(da) allows a secondary applicant only where the primary applicant is a Defence student, a Foreign Affairs student or holds a passport from a Pacific country or a country specified in the regulations, with a few more classes in LIN 20/158: a doctoral student, a student whose courses are fully funded by a foreign government, and two classes for family already holding a 500 whose primary is affected by provider default or finishing within 12 months.

Transitional cover exists for dependants who held a 500, or had applied for one that was granted after commencement, with the same primary applicant. Home Affairs says family members cannot be added after grant and that this has no exemptions. The regulations also provide, at (da)(iv) and (v), for a child born in Australia on or after 2 October to a primary who held a 500 at that date. These two statements sit uneasily together, so check the current position before advising a client with a new baby.

Four places a file can go wrong

Package order. The completion exemption turns on the course with the highest AQF level. Priority under Ministerial Direction 115 is set by the main CoE, which is usually the last course in the package. These are two different questions and they can have two different answers on one file.

Twelve months is a ceiling, not a margin. The completion class covers a student who will finish within 12 months of the CoE end date. A student heading for a longer extension is outside it.

Changing provider. The transfer restriction doubled to 12 months on the same day, and the completion exemption assumes the student stays put. The transfer rules are in our 12-month transfer explainer.

Dependants who are now primaries. A partner who holds a 500 as a secondary and has been accepted into a course has no exempt class to rely on, because item 1222(3)(aa)(iii) only exempts people who hold their visa on the primary criteria. They have to leave to lodge.

What offshore now means

Someone forced offshore lodges into the queue described in our university and college priority split. Home Affairs processes applications lodged outside Australia under Ministerial Direction 115, where the provider’s priority tier sets when processing starts. The Department of Education list as at 28 August had 56 of 139 private higher education providers at Priority 3. For a student leaving Australia to lodge, the provider on the CoE now bears on how long they spend outside.

Applications lodged between 15 November and 31 December are assessed against next year’s allocation, so that date is worth knowing for any student who has to leave and has a 2027 start.

What to do with this

  1. Check the lodgement date on every pending file. Before 2 October is the old rules, on or after is the new.
  2. Sort onshore intentions by visa held. A 485, a working holiday or a 482 client planning to study is an offshore lodgement.
  3. For every current Student visa holder, identify the principal course by AQF level before deciding whether the completion or progression class fits.
  4. Count the further courses. Progression allows one.
  5. Map dependants to the primary’s exemption before the application, not at lodgement.
  6. Give offshore clients the provider’s current tier at the point of the advice.

Each of those depends on the visa a client holds today, the AQF level of their principal course, the CoE end date and who is on the application, all on one record. That is a query you can run in a minute when that data lives with the student, and a search through emails when it does not. It is the case for running the education desk in one workspace.

This is general information, not migration or legal advice. The summary of the instruments is the author’s reading of their text as registered on 1 October 2026, and exemptions turn on the facts of each case. Always confirm against the primary source before lodging.

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