Student Visa Changes from 2 October 2026: Onshore Applications and Family Members

Student visa rules changed on 2 October 2026. If you already hold a subclass 500 (Student) visa, you must now apply for your next one from outside Australia unless you fall into a listed exception, and if you had to apply offshore, you must also be offshore when the visa is granted. Holders of more temporary visas, including the 482, 407, 408, 417 and 462, are now barred from applying for a student visa in Australia. And family members can only be included in a student's application in limited cases, and can no longer be added after the visa is granted.

Timing matters. These rules apply to applications made on or after 2 October 2026, and an application lodged before then is assessed under the old rules. Below we set out exactly what changed, who is exempt, and which parts that look new were already the law.

What changed on 2 October 2026?

All three instruments commenced on the same day. Amending regulations made the structural changes, a second instrument set the list of visa holders who must apply offshore, and a third filled in the exempt groups for students and families. Its stated purpose is blunt. The Department's explanatory statement says the aim is to stop the student visa being used to extend a stay in Australia through one onshore application after another.

Already a student in Australia? When you can still apply onshore

Offshore is now the default for a current 500 holder. You can still apply from inside Australia only if you hold your current 500 as the student (not as a family member) and you fit one of these groups:

• Defence students and Foreign Affairs students, studying under a scholarship or training program approved by the Defence Minister or the Foreign Minister.
• School students, meaning students enrolled, or intending to enrol, at a primary or secondary school.
• Doctoral students, if you're enrolled in a doctoral degree when you apply. A masters by research doesn't qualify.
• Students affected by provider default, if your provider couldn't deliver your registered course, you were enrolled on the default day, you need a new visa for an alternative course, you apply within 12 months of the default, and you haven't already applied because of the same default.
• Students finishing their course, if you've started the main course your current visa was granted for (or an alternative main course with the same provider that fits your visa conditions), haven't finished it, and will finish within 12 months of the end date on its confirmation of enrolment.
• Students moving up a level, if you've completed that main course and you're enrolled in no more than one further course at a higher qualification level. If the completed course was a university-level (higher education) course, the next one must be a higher education course with a higher education provider. Separate rules apply where the completed course had no qualification level, such as school or foundation studies.

Most students will land in that last group. It's narrower than it looks. Take two students who both finished a bachelor degree in Sydney. One of them enrols in a masters by coursework at a university and can apply onshore. The second student wants a second bachelor degree, or a vocational diploma, and has to leave Australia to apply, then stay offshore until the visa is granted. Same visa, same city, different outcome.

Family members on a 500 have no exemption of their own. A partner who holds a 500 as a dependant and now wants to study on their own student visa must apply from outside Australia.

There's a second rule, and it closes a gap people relied on. Under the old rules, a person required to apply offshore could leave briefly, lodge, return to Australia and wait on a bridging visa. The Department's own explanatory statement describes exactly that practice. Now, if you had to apply from outside Australia, the visa can only be granted while you're outside Australia.

Holding a different visa? The offshore list

Holders of the visas below can't lodge a student or student guardian visa application in Australia. They have to apply from outside Australia, and the grant rule above then applies to them too.

Half of the offshore list isn't new. Visitor visas, the 485 and the others marked "already on the list" were barred by an instrument that took effect on 25 September 2026, which had itself replaced an older list. What's new on 2 October is the eight subclasses at the bottom: working holiday makers, temporary activity and training visa holders, and 482 and 457 workers.

Holding a substantive visa that isn't on the offshore list and isn't a student visa? You can still apply onshore. If you hold only a bridging visa, you generally can't. Former students lose out too. A 28-day window that let a former student apply after their student visa ended has gone. It survives only for former special purpose visa holders and diplomatic family members, plus a new narrow case where the tribunal overturns a student visa cancellation after the visa's end date has already passed.

Bringing family: the new limits

This is the change that will hit hardest, and it applies to new students arriving from overseas, not only to people already here. A partner or child can now be included in a student visa application only if one of these applies:

• the student is a Defence student or a Foreign Affairs student
• the student holds a passport from one of the countries in the table below
• the student is enrolled in a doctoral degree
• the student's study is fully funded by a foreign government (every course, if there's more than one)
• the family member already holds a 500 as that student's dependant, and the student is applying again because of provider default or to finish their course
• the family member was in Australia holding a 500 as that student's dependant on 2 October 2026 (or had applied before then and was granted afterwards), or is that student's child born in Australia on or after that date

Even when a family member qualifies, they must apply at the same time and place as the student. A student who arrives alone can't bring a partner or child out later on a subsequent entrant application. And if one person in the family has to apply from outside Australia, the whole family applies from outside Australia, because the applications must be made together.

A caution for families relying on the scholarship, doctoral, provider default or course completion groups. One instrument sets out those four family groups, and it refers to a provision number in the regulations that doesn't match the new rule it's meant to feed. Its explanatory statement makes the intention clear. But if your family's eligibility depends on one of those four groups, get advice before you lodge.

What didn't change, and the smaller changes

Plenty stayed the same. Application charge amounts didn't change: a combined family application costs what it did before, and only the lines covering separate later family applications were removed. These instruments didn't touch the genuine student or financial capacity requirements. Nor did they change the conditions on a student visa.

Three smaller changes sit underneath:

• Provider default is now wider. It used to cover only courses that failed because a sanction was imposed on the provider. It now covers a course that doesn't start, stops part way, or isn't delivered in full, including where the provider's registration is suspended or cancelled.
• The COVID-19 era nil-charge groups are gone. Students whose studies were disrupted by COVID-19, and those whose visas were cancelled because of a declared public health emergency, no longer get a nil application charge.
• Student guardian (subclass 590) applicants are caught by the wider offshore list and the loss of the 28-day window, but not by the new rule for current student visa holders.

Before you lodge

Work out which rule applies to you before you book a flight or enrol. If you hold a 500, check whether you fit one of the exempt groups on the day you apply, because the test is applied at lodgement. If you don't, you'll need to apply from outside Australia and stay there until the visa is granted, so plan your course start date, your lease and your work around that wait.

FAQ

What are the new rules for student visas in Australia?

‍From 2 October 2026, most current subclass 500 holders must apply for their next student visa from outside Australia, and must be outside Australia when it's granted. Holders of more visas, including the 482, 407, 408, 417 and 462, can no longer apply onshore. Family members can only be included in limited cases and can't be added after grant.

Can I apply for a student visa while onshore?

‍Only in some cases. If you hold a subclass 500 as the student, you can apply onshore only if you're in an exempt group, such as a doctoral student or a student moving to a higher-level course. If you hold another substantive visa that isn't on the Department's offshore list, you can still apply in Australia.

What is an onshore student visa?

‍There's no separate onshore student visa. It's a subclass 500 application made while you're in Australia. From 2 October 2026, fewer people can make one, and anyone required to apply from outside Australia must also be outside Australia when the visa is granted.

Can I bring my spouse on a student visa?

‍Only in limited cases from 2 October 2026. Your partner can be included if, for example, you hold a passport from a Pacific-regional or listed ASEAN country, you're a Defence or Foreign Affairs student, you're enrolled in a doctoral degree, or your study is fully funded by a foreign government. Your partner must apply with you, not later.

What are the new rules for student dependent visas in Australia?

‍Family members can no longer be added to a student visa after it's granted, because every family member must apply at the same time and place as the student. Family members can only be included in listed cases. Families already in Australia on 2 October 2026 keep some protection if the student is eligible to apply again onshore.

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Holding a 500 and not sure whether you can apply onshore, or planning to bring your family? [Book a consultation] and we'll check which rule applies before you lodge, because an application in the wrong place isn't a valid application.