Tony Burke’s 2026 migration changes explained: students lose family visas, working holiday cut 84%

Announced 17 September 2026. Partly in force. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke set these changes out in an address to the National Press Club. The student visa measures commenced on 2 October 2026, and new skilled visa processing priorities took effect on 19 September 2026. The other measures had not commenced at 2 October 2026 - see the status table below. Do not withdraw, delay or lodge an application on the strength of an announcement. This is general information, not legal advice.

Updated 2 October 2026: this article first said that none of these changes was in force. The student visa measures commenced on 2 October 2026, and Ministerial Directions 121 and 122 replaced Direction 119 on 19 September 2026, so we have added a status for each measure. We have also corrected the net overseas migration figures and the priority sectors to match Home Affairs, removed student visa grant figures we could not trace to a primary source, corrected the Working Holiday table (both the second and third year move to a ballot), added the announced limit on family members of Temporary Graduate (485) visa holders, replaced press reports with primary sources, and removed a photo credit that no longer applied.

The migration package announced on 17 September is the largest single set of changes to Australia’s temporary visa settings this year, and it is aimed squarely at one thing: the number of people arriving on a temporary visa and then staying.

Burke put the reasoning in a sentence: “If you want to come on a temporary basis to Australia, apply for a temporary visa. If you want to come to Australia permanently, apply for a permanent visa.” The measures below are what that sentence looks like in practice.

Where each measure stands at 2 October 2026

Home Affairs says the changes “have begun to be implemented and will be progressively rolled out over the next 12 months”.

The number driving all of it

Home Affairs says this stage of migration policy changes is designed to deliver the Budget’s net overseas migration forecasts of 245,000 in 2026–27 and 225,000 in 2027–28. On the day, the Minister said net overseas migration was already 47 per cent below its post-pandemic peak and tracking a little below the Budget numbers - and that immigration needs to soften enough for housing supply to catch up.

That matters for reading the rest of this article. These are not separate policy ideas that happen to have landed together - they are the levers available to reach a number, which is why they fall hardest on the largest temporary cohorts.

Student visas: family members

The Minister announced that the government would “no longer be allowing the attaching of family members for international students or for graduate visas”. Families already in Australia are not affected: “we’re not going to be breaking up families onshore”. He named the exceptions as the Pacific and ASEAN nations and certain courses, such as PhDs.

For students, this is now law. From 2 October 2026 a partner or child can apply as a secondary applicant only in set circumstances - in outline, where the main student is a Defence or Foreign Affairs student or holds a passport from a Pacific-regional country or one of ten South-East Asian countries; where the main student is a doctoral student or fully funded by a foreign government; in some provider-default and course-completion cases; or where the family member is already in Australia and their position continues from before the change. Our article on student visa applications from 2 October 2026 sets the rules out in detail.

For Temporary Graduate (485) visas, it is still only announced. The Minister said the same restriction would apply to graduate visas, but no instrument to do that had been made at 2 October 2026, and there is no start date yet.

Student visas: no more course hopping

The Minister’s rule was simple: “You can go up the qualification scale, but only up the qualification scale.” Extensions for students who cannot finish in time, or whose provider has failed, were to stay.

This is now law. From 2 October 2026, a Student visa holder applying for another Student visa must apply from outside Australia unless they fit an exempt class. The exempt classes include doctoral students, students affected by provider default, students finishing their course within 12 months of their Confirmation of Enrolment end date, and students who have completed their course and are going up to one further course at a higher AQF level. A move sideways or down after finishing a course is no longer something you can apply for from inside Australia. See who can still apply for a student visa.

This targets a specific pattern: finishing a course, then moving sideways or down into a shorter and cheaper course to keep a visa alive while working. If you are a student considering a course change, this is the measure most likely to affect you and the one worth getting advice on before you enrol anywhere.

Working holiday makers: the deepest cuts

The second and third year Working Holiday Maker visas move to a ballot. You will still have to do the regional work to qualify - 88 days for a second year, six months for a third - but doing it will only get you into the ballot.

The third year visa is the one to note. A drop from 31,000 to 5,000 is not a tightening of criteria - it is a reduction of roughly 84%, allocated by chance rather than by meeting requirements. Anyone currently completing specified work with a third year in mind should treat it as no longer something that can be planned around. No start date for the ballots has been published.

Visitor visas: No Further Stay on everything

Home Affairs describes this as “introducing a No Further Stay condition to all visitor visas”. The Minister said it would apply to visas issued in future and would not affect anyone already here, and that a No Further Stay condition cannot stop a protection application.

A No Further Stay condition (8503 and its relatives) prevents the holder from applying for most other visas while they remain in Australia. The stated intention is that families can visit for weddings, family milestones and to see ageing relatives without that visit becoming a pathway.

The practical effect is significant and easy to miss: a visitor who arrives and then wishes to apply onshore for a partner visa will not be able to, unless the condition is waived - and waiver is a narrow discretion, not a formality. (Visitor visa holders already cannot apply for a Student visa in Australia; that changed on 2 October 2026.) This measure is not yet in force - see No Further Stay for visitor visas and how a condition 8503 waiver works.

Skilled visa processing priorities

The Minister announced that Direction 119, which sets the order in which skilled visa applications are processed, would be updated to add construction, agriculture, fisheries, resources and teaching to the priority list. That has happened: from 19 September 2026, Ministerial Directions 121 and 122 replaced Direction 119. Applications relating to construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture, aquaculture, fishing and resources, or to Australia’s law enforcement and defence interests, now go first.

Processing priority is not the same as eligibility. A direction changes who is looked at first, not who qualifies - but in a system where processing time is often the whole problem, it matters.

Compliance and overstayers

The package also funds enforcement: 100 additional compliance officers and 250 additional detention beds, with the government looking at whether the former quarantine facility in Melbourne could be repurposed.

Also announced

• Points test reform - a redesigned points test, with housing trades to receive the same points as a university qualification.
• Migration agents - changes to the code of conduct so agents who encourage claims without merit can be sanctioned or deregistered.

What this means if you are here now

• If your family is already in Australia on a student dependant visa - existing families are not being separated, and the new rules keep a path for family members already in Australia whose position continues from before 2 October 2026.
• If you were planning to bring family on a student visa - the restriction is now law. Check whether you fall inside one of the exceptions before making any commitment.
• If you hold a Temporary Graduate (485) visa and plan to add family - nothing has changed in law yet, but a restriction has been announced. Get advice on timing.
• If you are working toward a third year Working Holiday visa - a ballot for 5,000 places cannot be planned around. It is worth looking now at whether another visa fits.
• If you are a student thinking about changing courses - the new rules already apply. Get advice before you enrol, not after.
• If you have family planning to visit - understand that a future visitor visa is likely to carry No Further Stay, and plan any onshore application accordingly.

What we do not know yet

For the measures that are still only announced, the things that decide how they affect an individual case are not yet public:

• Start dates for the 485 family restriction, the Working Holiday ballots and No Further Stay on visitor visas.
• Transitional arrangements - whether applications already lodged are assessed under the current rules.
• The exact wording of any exceptions, which is where most of the real answers will sit.
• How the second and third year ballots will operate, and when they open.

We will update this article as the instruments are made. If you have an application in progress or were about to lodge one, the sensible step is to get your situation looked at against what is actually in force today rather than acting on an announcement.

Sources

• The Hon Tony Burke MP, Speech - National Press Club, transcript, 17 September 2026.
• Department of Home Affairs, Australian Government Migration Policy Changes.
• Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026 (F2026L01347), commenced 2 October 2026.
• Migration (Student Visa Applications to Be Made from outside Australia) Instrument 2026 (LIN 26/102) (F2026L01348), commenced 2 October 2026.
• LIN 26/087 (F2026L01349), commenced 2 October 2026 - the further exempt classes and family member classes.
• Department of Home Affairs, Skilled visa processing priorities (Ministerial Directions 121 and 122, from 19 September 2026).