Australia will reduce net overseas migration (NOM) to 245,000 in the 2026-27 financial year and 225,000 in 2027-28 by restricting family visas for most international students and intensifying enforcement against visa overstayers, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced at the National Press Club in Canberra.
Student Visa Family Restrictions and Visa Overstayer Enforcement
The Australian government’s new immigration rules prevent nearly all international students from bringing dependents or family members, except for PhD students and those sponsored by the government. In the 2025-26 financial year, Australia granted over 337,000 student visas including about 46,000 offshore dependent visas, predominantly from South Asian countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
and Sri Lanka. Managing Director of Studymove, Keri Ramirez, noted that these restrictions will significantly affect South Asian students, given they accounted for more than 70% of dependent visas last year.
The policy also imposes a “no further stay” condition on all visitor visas to ensure they are used solely for genuine short-term visits, limiting pathways to extend stays.
Visa overstayers, estimated at 77,000 individuals, face a strengthened crackdown including the repurposing of a former Melbourne quarantine facility into a detention centre providing 250 new beds. The government will deploy an additional 100 compliance officers to enforce visa conditions. Assistant
Minister for Foreign Affairs Matt Thistlethwaite said detainees who overstay tourist visas will face detention, aiming to deter breaches. “Once the word gets around, ‘hey, I overstayed on my tourist visa for a couple of weeks, I got picked up and I spent a couple of weeks in immigration detention, it’s not a nice place, I’m going home’,” he said.
Visa System Changes and Skilled Migration Priorities
New immigration policy targets “visa hopping” by students, where previous rules enabled indefinite stays. Tony Burke criticized the current policy, describing it as a “double standard” that facilitated prolonged bridging visa use for onshore applications.
The government will prioritize applicants
with skills aligned to healthcare, construction, education, law enforcement, defense, resources, agriculture, aquaculture, and fishing sectors by adjusting ministerial directions to focus on these professions.
Backpacker visa regulations will introduce a ballot system for second and third-year applications, accompanied by a regional work requirement, aiming to allocate workforce needs efficiently in rural areas. Processing times for working holidaymaker visas are being stabilized to three months offshore and about five days onshore. However, working holidaymakers from the United Kingdom are exempt from these caps and regional obligations due to free trade agreement commitments. Currently, almost 80,000 working holidaymakers reside in Australia,
more than double the pre-pandemic peak of 35,000.
Industry Responses and Political Context
Bran Black, CEO of the Business Chamber of Australia, welcomed aspects of the policy but expressed concern over emerging delays in skilled worker visa approvals under the new system. Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy criticized the high visa charges and slow processing, warning these factors hurt international student commencements. Sheehy said, “If 295,000 is the right level for Australia, the settings need to give universities a realistic chance of getting there.”
The Australian Tourism Industry Council’s CEO Erin McLeod warned that detaining tourists who overstay visas could damage Australia’s reputation as a
welcoming destination. Rebecca Eckard, Director of Policy at the Refugee Council of Australia, highlighted legal and safety concerns, stating the use of punitive detention violates Australian immigration law and that immigration detention itself has been a significant ongoing issue.
These reforms come amid political pressure, with Labor introducing them as part of a broader effort to manage migration levels in response to community sentiment and the rise of far-right parties such as One Nation.
