No Further Stay for visitor visas - what has been announced, and who it affects
The Government has announced that visitor visas will carry a No Further Stay condition. For anyone who comes to Australia as a visitor and hopes to apply for a different visa without leaving - most often a partner visa - this is the change to watch.
What is official so far
The Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, announced it in his National Press Club speech on 17 September 2026:
“We’ll be attaching to visitor visas a no further stay provision to visitor visas. Now obviously you can’t do a no further stay with respect to a protection application, but we will have a no further stay with respect to other applications for people coming on visitor visas.”
The Department of Home Affairs listed it the same day among the Government’s migration changes: “Introducing a No Further Stay condition to all visitor visas to ensure they are only used by genuine visitors and not as a pathway to extending a stay in Australia.” The Department said the changes “will be progressively rolled out over the next 12 months”.
The Minister also said it “will have no impact on anybody who is already here because this is about the issuing of future visas”.
What was reported this week
At the Migration Institute of Australia’s national conference on 1 October 2026, a senior Home Affairs official responsible for family visas was asked whether the condition would apply to eVisitor (subclass 651), Electronic Travel Authority (subclass 601) and Visitor (subclass 600) visas, and was reported by attendees to have answered yes, with the start date still to be confirmed.
Treat that as reported, not confirmed. As at 2 October 2026 we have not found it in any Departmental publication, media release or legislative instrument, and no start date has been published. We will update this article when there is an official source.
What the law says today
Condition 8503 already exists, and some visitor visas already carry it. Under Schedule 2 of the Migration Regulations as they stand:
| Visa | Condition 8503 today |
|---|---|
| Visitor (600) - Tourist stream, not sponsored | May be imposed |
| Visitor (600) - Tourist stream with an approved sponsor | Must be imposed |
| Visitor (600) - Sponsored Family stream | Must be imposed |
| Visitor (600) - Business Visitor stream | May be imposed |
| Visitor (600) - Approved Destination Status and Frequent Traveller streams | Must be imposed |
| Electronic Travel Authority (601) | Not on the list of conditions for this visa |
| eVisitor (651) | Not on the list of conditions for this visa |
For the ETA and eVisitor, the Regulations currently list only conditions 8115, 8201, 8527 and 8528. On our reading, adding No Further Stay to those visas will need the Regulations to be changed - which is why the announcement is not yet law, and why the detail and the start date matter.
What No Further Stay means
Condition 8503 says the holder “will not, after entering Australia, be entitled to be granted a substantive visa, other than a protection visa, while the holder remains in Australia.” In practice, as Home Affairs puts it, it means “you cannot apply for most temporary and permanent visas while you are in Australia.”
- It does not stop you leaving and applying from outside Australia.
- It does not stop a protection visa application.
- It does not shorten your stay - you keep the period you were granted.
- It attaches to the visa it is on. Your grant notice, or VEVO, shows whether your visa has it.
Our article on condition 8503 and how a waiver works covers the condition in detail.
Who it would affect
- Partners who visit, then apply onshore. This is the group the Minister described. Today a visitor whose visa does not carry 8503 can, if eligible, apply in Australia for a Partner visa (subclass 820). Home Affairs’ Partner visa page says you can apply “if your current or previous visa does not have a condition that prevents further stay, such as condition 8503” and that “A waiver must be approved before you can apply for this visa.” Once the new rule starts, a visitor would generally need to apply from outside Australia (the offshore Partner visa, subclass 309) or obtain a waiver.
- Visitors hoping to switch to another visa in Australia - for example an employer-sponsored or skilled visa - would generally need to apply from outside Australia instead. (Visitors already cannot apply for a Student visa in Australia; that restriction is separate.)
- Family members on ETA or eVisitor visas, who until now have not had 8503 on those visas at all.
The Minister framed the other side of the change this way: “while someone is waiting for a spouse visa to come through, their partner will be able to visit Australia on a regular basis.”
The waiver is narrow
A No Further Stay condition can be waived, but the test in regulation 2.05(4) is strict: compelling and compassionate circumstances must have developed since the visa was granted, over which you had no control, and which resulted in a major change to your circumstances. Home Affairs lists “marriage or starting a de facto relationship with an Australian citizen or permanent resident” and “pregnancy” as examples that are not reasons for a waiver, and says its decision “is final. The Administrative Review Tribunal cannot review this decision.” Planning to marry in Australia after arriving as a visitor is therefore not, on its own, a way around the condition.
If you are planning a visit
- Nothing has changed yet. Your current visa carries only the conditions on its grant notice.
- If you intend to apply for a partner visa, decide before you travel whether you will apply from outside Australia or in Australia, and get advice on the timing.
- Watch for the start date. The rule is expected to apply to visas granted after it starts, not to visas already granted.
Where to start
If you or your partner are planning a visit and a partner visa is on the horizon, the order in which you do things now matters. Read our guide to onshore and offshore partner visas, and if you would like a lawyer to map out the options, book a consultation or send us an enquiry.
Sources
- The Hon Tony Burke MP, Speech - National Press Club, 17 September 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs, Australian Government migration policy changes, last updated 17 September 2026.
- Migration Regulations 1994 (compilation as at 1 July 2026): Schedule 2 clauses 600.611 to 600.615, 601.611 and 651.611; Schedule 8 condition 8503; regulation 2.05(4).
- Department of Home Affairs, No Further Stay waiver, last updated 24 September 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs, Partner visa (subclass 820), last updated 24 September 2026.
- Migration Institute of Australia, National Migration Conference 2026 program (Department of Home Affairs session, 1 October 2026). The remark described above is reported by attendees and has not been published by the Department.