Australia announced stricter regulations that will target backpackers, international students, and so-called “visa hoppers” in an effort to reduce immigration.
Tony Burke, Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, has made an announcement that the Australian government has rolled out the next phase of its migration reforms, aimed at tightening control over who enters, stays, and leaves the country, while fast-tracking the skills the economy actually needs.
Migration Numbers Already Falling Sharply
The Albanese government has spent the past four years building a more orderly, fair, and targeted migration system, bringing Net Overseas Migration down by 47%, said Burke.
Fresh data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows Net Overseas Migration has fallen to 292,000, down 47% from the post-COVID peak in 2023. The government is now targeting 245,000 for this financial year, and 225,000 by 2027/28.
What Counts as Visa Hopping, and What Doesn’t
The issue of visa hopping was addressed with an example. Take a student who studies in a skill-shortage area, gets qualified, moves to a graduate visa, finds work in that shortage area, gets sponsored by an employer, secures a permanent visa, and eventually becomes a citizen. That’s not visa hopping, Burke says; that’s the system working at its best, delivering some of the highest direct economic benefits Australia gets from migration.
But there is a problem with visa hopping where individuals who would never actually meet the qualifications for permanent residency effectively jump from visa to visa, using the appeals process to stay as long as possible, until it eventually becomes absurd not to let them stay, because by then they have Australian citizen children and are deeply integrated into a local community, said Burke.
Partner Visa Rules Are Changing Too
The next change on who arrives is with respect to student visas and graduate visas. If you’re an Australian citizen and your partner is not an Australian citizen and lives overseas, applying for them to come here means waiting several years. At the moment, if you’re an international student and want to come here with your partner, you get them right from the start.
“What we will be doing for international students, and I’ll go through the exceptions to this because the exceptions are also important: for international students, we will no longer be allowing the attaching of family members for international students or for graduate visas,” says Burke.
“Anyone who already has their family attached to a visa and is already here, we’re not going to be breaking up families onshore. The ones who are already here, that’ll stay as is until, you know, at whatever point they leave Australia, unless they end up being entitled to a permanent visa. But we will no longer be adding to the stock of students automatically being able to bring family members over,” added Burke.
Student Visa Extensions and Transfers, What Stays the Same
The next part of who stays covers changes to student visas themselves. For student visas, there are three situations where a student, once here, seeks a variation, either an extension because they’re critically ill and won’t finish the course in time, or their institution has closed down and they need to apply to a new one. A 12-month extension is available in these cases, and that stays unchanged.
The second thing that happens with student visas is people often seek a transfer. A student starts their course, and after 12 months decides the course isn’t the right fit, wanting to use their credits toward something slightly different.
That will require applying for a new visa, but it’s effectively a transfer from one course to another at the same institution or level. It works, and it makes sure people are actually studying what they’re good at. In terms of international education, that’s not the visa-hopping problem.
What’s Changing, and Who Benefits
The reforms are built around one message: Australia welcomes genuine contributors, not people who game the system.
Key changes include:
Strengthening compliance to ensure people without valid visas actually leave the country
Updating Ministerial Direction 119 to fast-track skilled migration in priority sectors, including healthcare, construction, education, law enforcement, defence, resources, agriculture, aquaculture, and fishing
Cracking down on student visa hopping and restricting secondary applicants on most student visas
Targeting rogue migration agents who knowingly push applications without merit
Introducing a No Further Stay condition on all visitor visas, so they can’t be used as a backdoor to extend a stay
Overhauling the Working Holiday Maker Program with a ballot system for years two and three, tied to a regional work requirement, while stabilising processing times to three months
Burke Draws the Line on Who’s Welcome
Burke says the government supports immigration but has no tolerance for anyone defrauding the system. Burke says almost everyone who comes to Australia is a good guest, and these reforms exist to better target the country’s current needs.
Disclaimer: This article is based on an official media release from the Australian Government’s Department of Home Affairs, dated September 17, 2026. Figures and policy details are subject to change; readers should check the official source for updates.