Australia's new Student visa rules: who must apply offshore

Since 2 October 2026, most people applying for an Australian Student visa (subclass 500) have to be outside Australia when they apply and when the visa is granted. Most applicants also can't include a partner or children any more, and nobody can add family to a Student visa once it has been granted.

If you're in Australia on a working holiday, visitor or graduate visa and planned to switch to study, you now have to leave to do it. If you already hold a Student visa, you can apply for the next one in Australia only if one of six exemptions fits you.

The new rules at a glance

All of this comes from the Department of Home Affairs pages listed at the end, checked on 2 November 2026.

On a visitor, working holiday or work visa in Australia

If you hold one of these visas, as the main holder or as a family member, you can't apply for a Student visa in Australia. Home Affairs puts it plainly: "There are no exemptions to this rule." (Subclass 500, Eligibility tab)

• Visitor (600), ETA (601), eVisitor (651), Medical Treatment (602) and Transit (771)
• Working Holiday (417) and Work and Holiday (462)
• Temporary Graduate (485)
• Skills in Demand / Temporary Skill Shortage (482), Temporary Work (457), Temporary Work (400), Training (407) and Temporary Activity (408)
• Domestic Worker, Diplomatic/Consular stream (403), Maritime Crew (988) and Diplomatic (Temporary) (995)

The 995 rule covers the main holder only. A family member of a 995 holder can still apply in Australia.

You lodge from abroad and you must still be abroad when the decision is made. If the department is ready to grant the visa while you're in Australia, it may ask you to leave so processing can continue (applying from outside Australia).

Example (made up): Mariana is in Brisbane on a Working Holiday visa (subclass 417) and has a Confirmation of Enrolment for a diploma starting in February. She can't lodge from Brisbane. She finishes her documents first, flies home, lodges in ImmiAccount after she lands, and waits there for the grant.

Already on a Student visa

Your current visa isn't affected. The change matters when you need the next one. As the main Student visa holder you can apply again in Australia only if one of these fits (applying in Australia):

1. More time on the same course. You need up to 12 more months past the original end date of your main course, with the same provider. Changing course at that provider is fine if the new course is at the same AQF level or higher.
2. DFAT or Defence sponsorship.
3. A PhD. A master's by research doesn't count.
4. Primary or secondary school.
5. Moving up a level. You finished your main course and are moving to a course at a higher AQF level. If the course you finished was higher education, the next one must be too, with a higher education provider. Finishing school and moving to a course without an AQF level counts, and so does finishing a course without one, such as ELICOS, and moving to a course with one.
6. Your provider defaulted and you can't continue your course.

Two situations look covered and aren't. If you changed provider after your visa was granted, the "more time" exemption no longer applies, however little time you need. If you need more than 12 extra months, you're outside it as well. In both cases you apply from outside Australia and wait outside for the grant.

Packaged courses. Under the "moving up a level" exemption you can be enrolled in only one future course when you apply. A Year 12 student can't apply in Australia for a foundation course packaged with a bachelor's degree, and a bachelor's graduate can't for a graduate certificate packaged with a master's. Both apply from outside.

Gaps between courses. Home Affairs expects the next course to start at the first available intake. The gap should be minimal and, in most cases, no longer than two calendar months during the teaching year, or four between standard academic years.

Family members on a Student visa who want one in their own right must apply from outside Australia. There are no exemptions.

If you have to apply from outside Australia

For Student visa holders who have to go offshore, Home Affairs suggests doing the work before you leave (applying from outside Australia):

1. Check when your current visa expires and plan to leave before then.
2. Get a current Confirmation of Enrolment from your provider, and ask whether you can study online while you wait.
3. Use the My Health Declarations service to see whether you need a health check. If you do, get a HAP ID and book Bupa Medical Visa Services while you're still in Australia.
4. Run the Document Checklist Tool and have every document ready.
5. Lodge in ImmiAccount once you're outside Australia. Watch for requests, including a biometrics request, depending on the country you lodge from.

Once you've lodged from abroad, four things work differently:

• No Bridging visa. An application lodged outside Australia doesn't come with one.
• You can travel to Australia on another valid visa while the application is processed, under that visa's conditions. You must still be outside Australia when the Student visa is granted.
• Don't book the flight back or accommodation in Australia until the new visa is granted.
• Some applications get priority. Complete offshore applications from students with satisfactory progress may be prioritized, for example a nursing student who changed provider to get a clinical placement. The department says it is "seeking to finalise" these within 5 business days. A history of non-commencement, long deferrals, a provider change within 12 months of arriving, or little progress rules priority out.

A Visitor visa (subclass 600) can be an option in urgent cases, such as final exams you must sit in person, because it allows up to three months of study. Home Affairs warns that it may affect your eligibility for a Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485), and that while you hold a visitor visa you can't apply for another Student visa in Australia. It recommends talking to a registered migration agent or lawyer first.

Partners and children

Most applicants can no longer include family members, meaning a partner or dependent children, in a first or a further Student visa application (family members). The exceptions:

• PhD students
• Students sponsored by DFAT or Defence
• Students whose studies are fully funded by a foreign government scholarship
• Nationals of a Pacific Island country (Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu) or an ASEAN country (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam)

For scholarship holders and Pacific or ASEAN nationals already in Australia, bringing family into an onshore application is narrower. It works only if you need up to 12 more months, are moving up an AQF level, or your provider defaulted.

Family already on your current visa. If you apply in Australia, you may be able to include them again. You may also keep them, wherever you apply, if you need up to 12 more months on your main course or your provider defaulted. But if you have to go offshore because no exemption lets you apply in Australia, you can't include them, even though they're on your current visa, unless you fit one of the family exceptions above.

Everyone in the application has to be in the same place when it is lodged: all in Australia or all outside. And family can't be added after the grant. Home Affairs again says there are no exemptions.

What isn't clear yet

Home Affairs says the gap between courses should, "in most cases", be no longer than two months (four between academic years). It doesn't say what makes a case an exception. The 5-business-day figure is a goal for priority applications, not a processing standard, and it covers only students who meet the priority conditions.

Our view

If you're in Australia on another visa and want to study, treat leaving as part of the application. Have the Confirmation of Enrolment, your genuine student answers and the documents behind them finished before you fly, so you lodge the day you land rather than building the file from abroad.

Where Visa Engine fits

A subclass 500 case in Visa Engine checks the evidence the department asks for: the Confirmation of Enrolment, the genuine student answers and the documents behind them, financial capacity, OSHC and English. It shows what's missing or inconsistent before you lodge. It doesn't decide whether you may lodge in Australia, so check that against the exemptions above or ask a registered migration agent. The subclass 500 guide covers each document, and the eligibility check walks through the questions in order.

Educational only — not legal advice. Consult a registered migration agent or a qualified immigration lawyer for your case.