Australia Tightens Student and Working Holiday Visa Rules to Cut Immigration
- Australia's Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced sweeping changes to international student and working holiday visa rules on Thursday
- Foreign students will no longer be able to bring family members to Australia, with limited exemptions for some nationalities and PhD candidates
- Working holiday visa holders seeking a second or third year in Australia will now enter a ballot system with significantly lower caps than before
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Australia has announced a major overhaul of its immigration rules, targeting international students, so-called "visa hoppers," and backpackers in a move the government says is necessary to bring net overseas migration under tighter control.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke unveiled the changes on Thursday, describing immigration as a "strength" of Australia but insisting the country needed a "high level of control" over who arrives, who stays, and who leaves.
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The government has set a target of bringing net overseas migration down to 225,000 people annually by 2028.
Changes to International student visas
According to BBC, under the new rules, international students will no longer be allowed to bring family members with them to Australia. Exemptions will apply to students already in the country, those from Pacific and South-East Asian nations, and PhD candidates, whom Burke said face different life circumstances compared to undergraduates.
The government will also crack down on "visa hopping," where students finish a course and then enrol in another that is often a lower qualification, sometimes through providers that Burke described as "not so legitimate." Students who wish to extend their stay must move to a higher level of study, such as progressing from a bachelor's degree to a master's programme.
Working holiday visa ballot introduced
Significant changes will also affect working holiday visas for those aged 18 to 30. Applicants who qualify for a second year in Australia will now be placed into a ballot capped at 45,000 spots, down from the 57,000 who qualified last year. For a third year, the ballot will be limited to just 5,000 places, compared to 31,000 who previously qualified.
British working holidaymakers are exempt from these changes under the terms of the UK's free trade agreement with Australia.
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, released the same day, showed Australia's population grew by 1.4% in the 12 months to March 2026, reaching 27.9 million. Net overseas migration during that period stood at 292,100.
Migration has become a deeply contested political issue in Australia amid rising living costs, housing affordability concerns, and growing pressure on public services. The right-wing One Nation party, which won its first lower house seat in May and has proposed cutting temporary migrant visas by 750,000 over three years, also wants to cap net overseas immigration at 130,000. Burke rejected that plan, warning it would risk "smashing parts of the Australian economy."
Violet Roumeliotis of Settlement Services International, which assists new arrivals in Australia, cautioned that the debate was being shaped by "short-term politics rather than what is best for the country." She said the proposed changes to family visas for international students would make it harder for Australia to attract "future talent."
Source: Getty Images
Australia releases requirements for 12 countries
Legit.ng earlier reported that Australia's Department of Home Affairs has announced a formal requirement for citizens seeking to participate in Work and Holiday visa programmes across 12 partner countries, adding an official government endorsement step before any visa application can be submitted.
Source: Legit.ng
