On 2 October 2026, the biggest student visa reforms in years became law. They change who can apply for a student visa from inside Australia, whether you can bring a partner or children, and how long you must stay with your education provider before switching.

If you already hold a student visa, your current visa is not affected. Applications lodged before 2 October 2026 are assessed under the old rules. Everything below applies to new applications from that date.

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The 60-second summary

Change	Old rule	New rule from 2 Oct 2026
Applying onshore on another temporary visa	Most temporary visa holders could apply for a 500 in Australia	Holders of 17 temporary visas (including 485, 482, 417, 462, visitor visas) must apply from outside Australia, and be offshore when it's granted
Applying for another student visa onshore	Generally allowed	Only with an exemption (see below)
Bringing your partner or children	Included in most applications	Most new applicants cannot include family, and family cannot be added after the visa is granted
Switching providers	Release letter needed in first 6 months	Transfer restriction extended to 12 months for non-school students, until 30 June 2027
Higher ed to VET onshore	Possible with a release	Removed — you cannot switch from higher education to a VET course while in Australia

1. Most temporary visa holders can no longer apply onshore

If you're in Australia on a Working Holiday (417/462), Temporary Graduate (485), Skills in Demand (482) or visitor visa, you can no longer lodge a student visa application from inside Australia. You must lodge from overseas and be outside Australia when the visa is decided.

This is the end of the "visitor visa to student visa" and "485 back to student visa" pathways that agents marketed for years. If you were planning to extend your stay this way, the honest options now are:

• Apply for a genuinely different visa you qualify for (skilled, partner, employer-sponsored), or
• Lodge your next student visa from your home country before you return.

2. Current students: another student visa onshore is now the exception

If you already hold a student visa and want a new one, you generally can't apply in Australia unless you fit an exemption:

• You're sponsored by DFAT or the Department of Defence
• You're applying for a doctoral degree, or primary/secondary school study
• Your provider can't deliver your course (provider default)
• You need up to 12 extra months to finish your course with the same provider
• You deferred your course and need a visa to cover the new end date

"Visa hopping" — finishing one course and enrolling in a cheaper or lower-level course just to stay — is exactly what these rules target. If your plan is a genuine step up (Bachelor to Master's, for example), talk to your provider and check whether an exemption applies before assuming you can lodge onshore.

3. Family members: mostly removed from new applications

This is the change that affects the most people emotionally. From 2 October 2026:

• Most new student visa applicants cannot include a partner or dependent children in their application.
• You cannot add family members after your visa is granted.
• Limited exemptions apply — including students sponsored by DFAT or Defence, doctoral students, and applicants from Pacific and ASEAN countries in some categories.

If you're exempt and do include family, the existing financial capacity and OSHC requirements still apply in full — see our partner and family guide for costs and evidence.

If your visa was granted before 2 October 2026, your family arrangements continue as they were. The new rules apply to new applications, not existing visas.

4. Switching providers: 12 months, not 6

The Department of Education extended the provider transfer restriction from 6 to 12 months of your principal course, for all non-school students. The extension is temporary — it reverts to 6 months on 1 July 2027.

Within those 12 months you can only move with a release letter from your current provider (or if the provider defaults). And one route is now closed entirely: you can no longer arrive for a higher education course and transfer onshore to a VET course.

A new "student visa transfer stream" is planned for 2027 — we'll update this guide when the details are published. Until then, read our full course and provider change guide before you switch anything.

5. The fee picture in late 2026

Visa	Fee from 1 July 2026
Student visa (500), primary applicant	$2,500
Temporary Graduate (485)	$5,750
Student Guardian (590)	$2,500

ASEAN and Pacific passport holders, and independent ELICOS and non-award applicants, keep the older charge plus CPI indexation. Full breakdown in our visa fees guide.

What you should actually do

1. Applying from overseas? Nothing structural changes for you — but budget for the $2,500 fee and note that family inclusion is now the exception, not the default.
2. On a 485 or working holiday visa hoping to study? You must now lodge offshore. Plan your timeline around leaving Australia before grant.
3. Mid-course and unhappy with your provider? You're likely inside the 12-month restriction. Use the provider's complaints and appeal process first, and only plan a transfer around the release rules.
4. Confused about your specific situation? This is exactly the moment a registered migration agent (check the OMARA register) earns their fee. The interaction between the new rules and your visa history is not something to guess.

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Related reading

• Changing your course or provider under the new rules
• Bringing a partner or family — what's still possible
• 485 Graduate Visa guide
• Student visa fees in 2026
• Genuine Student test guide