New Student Visa Rules from 2 October 2026: Can You Still Apply in Australia?

The affected visa subclasses include:

• subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist)
• subclass 403 Temporary Work (International Relations) — Domestic Worker (Diplomatic or Consular) stream
• subclass 407 Training
• subclass 408 Temporary Activity
• subclass 417 Working Holiday
• subclass 457 Temporary Work (Skilled)
• subclass 462 Work and Holiday
• subclass 482 Skills in Demand
• subclass 482 Temporary Skill Shortage
• subclass 485 Temporary Graduate
• subclass 600 Visitor
• subclass 601 Electronic Travel Authority
• subclass 602 Medical Treatment
• subclass 651 eVisitor
• subclass 771 Transit
• subclass 988 Maritime Crew
• certain subclass 995 Diplomatic (Temporary) visa holders

If you are affected by these rules, you will generally need to be outside Australia to make a valid Student visa application.

Your current visa should therefore be checked before you enrol in another course or make travel arrangements.

A current Student visa holder seeking another Student visa as the primary applicant is generally required to apply from outside Australia.

This also affects someone who currently holds a Student visa as a dependant and now wants to apply as the primary Student visa applicant.

However, there are important exemptions for some current primary Student visa holders.

These include certain:

• Defence students
• Foreign Affairs students
• school students
• doctoral students
• students affected by education provider default
• students who need additional time to complete their current studies
• students progressing to an eligible further course

Each exemption has its own requirements.

Being a current Student visa holder does not, by itself, mean you can apply for another Student visa in Australia.

It can apply where you have started the principal course connected with your current Student visa — or a qualifying alternative principal course — but have not yet completed it.

You must also be expected to complete that course within 12 months of the end date shown on the relevant Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE).

If you changed to an alternative principal course, additional conditions apply, including requirements relating to the education provider and your existing visa conditions.

This exemption is designed for completing existing studies rather than providing a general way to extend a Student visa for a new study plan.

If the completed course has an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level, the next course generally needs to be at a higher 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.

Specific rules also apply where the completed course does not have an AQF level, including certain progression from school studies.

Course progression should therefore be checked against the actual courses involved rather than assumed simply because the next qualification appears more advanced.

The exemption has specific conditions.

Among other requirements, you must have been enrolled in the affected course on the provider default day, need another Student visa to complete an alternative registered course or subsequent registered studies, and apply within 12 months after the provider default day.

The exemption cannot be used repeatedly for the same provider default.

The changes do not, by themselves, cancel or shorten an existing Student visa.

If you already hold a Student visa, it continues according to its existing validity period and conditions.

The new rules become particularly important when you make a new visa application.

This distinction matters if your current Student visa still has time remaining but you are planning another course.

Student visa applicants can generally no longer include family members unless they fall within an eligible category.

Family members may still be included in certain circumstances, including where the primary applicant is:

• a Defence student
• a Foreign Affairs student
• an eligible passport holder from a Pacific regional country or specified ASEAN country
• undertaking doctoral study
• studying under a qualifying foreign-government scholarship

There are also limited provisions for some family members already connected to existing Student visa arrangements, including certain families affected by provider default or where the primary student needs additional time to complete their studies.

The exact requirements depend on the circumstances.

This has an important practical consequence.

If one member of the application must apply from outside Australia, the family may need to lodge from outside Australia together to satisfy the same-location requirement.

A family member cannot simply make a later Student visa application as a secondary applicant after the primary student's visa has already been granted.

This is different from being included as an eligible secondary applicant when the new Student visa application is lodged.

If studying in Australia with your partner or children is important to your plans, the timing and structure of the application now need to be considered before lodgement.

This includes applications that already included family members.

The new rules apply to applications made on or after 2 October 2026.

The lodgement date is therefore important.

This means leaving Australia to lodge the application and immediately returning may not solve the location issue.

Home Affairs advises that you may be able to return to Australia on another valid visa while the Student visa application is being processed, but you would need to be outside Australia again when the Student visa is granted.

An offshore Student visa application also does not provide a Bridging visa linked to that application.

Certain temporary visa holders are prevented from lodging a Student Guardian visa application while in Australia under the new location rules.

However, current Student Guardian visa holders can continue to lodge a further Student Guardian visa application in Australia, provided the applicable requirements are met.

The rules for subclass 590 are therefore not identical to the rules affecting current Student visa holders seeking another subclass 500 visa.

Before enrolling in another course, travelling or making relocation arrangements, check:

• what visa you currently hold
• whether you can make a valid Student visa application in Australia
• whether an exemption applies to your circumstances
• whether you need to be outside Australia when the visa is granted
• whether eligible family members need to apply with you
• whether your planned course progression meets the relevant exemption
• whether an offshore application affects your travel and visa arrangements

Being eligible to enrol in a course does not necessarily mean you are eligible to lodge the Student visa application from inside Australia.

Hans Immigration Services can review your circumstances and explain how the Student visa application rules applying from 2 October 2026 may affect your next application.

Book a consultation with Hans Immigration Services to discuss your Student visa options.