If you hold a Student visa, are thinking about applying for one, or have family members on your visa, there are some important new rules you need to know about. From 2 October 2026, the Department of Home Affairs has changed who can apply for a Student visa while they are in Australia, and whether family members can be included.
Australia is still welcoming international students, and you can still apply for a Student visa if you meet the requirements. But the new rules are strict about where you need to be when you lodge your application and when your visa is granted, so the team at Rocket & Ash Immigration Law has put together this guide to help you understand what has changed.
The short version:
There are three main changes:
- Most people can no longer apply for a Student visa from inside Australia. If you currently hold a Student visa, or one of a long list of other temporary visas, you will generally need to leave Australia before you lodge your application, and you must still be outside Australia when the visa is granted.
- Family members can only be included in limited situations. Most Student visa applicants can no longer include a partner or children in their application unless an exemption applies.
- You can no longer add family members later. Once a Student visa has been granted, family members cannot be added to it afterwards. There are no exemptions to this one.
These changes apply to applications lodged on or after 2 October 2026. If you lodged your application before that date, it will continue to be assessed under the rules that applied when you lodged it, including any family members you included.
Change 1: Applying for a Student visa while you are in Australia
If you currently hold a Student visa
Until now, many students have been able to stay in Australia and apply for a new Student visa to continue or extend their studies. Under the new rules, that is no longer the default. Unless you fit into one of the limited exemptions below, you will need to be outside Australia when you lodge your application, and outside Australia when it is granted.
You may still be able to apply from inside Australia if you:
- need up to 12 more months after your original course end date to finish your studies, and you are continuing with the same education provider (if you have a package of courses, this needs to be your main course)
- are sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) or the Department of Defence
- are applying to study a PhD
- are applying to do primary or secondary school studies
- have completed your main course and are moving on to a course at a higher qualification level (there are some technical rules about how qualification levels are compared, and if you completed a higher education course, your next course also needs to be a higher education course with a higher education provider)
- have completed school studies and are moving on to a course that does not have a formal qualification level
- have completed a course that does not have a formal qualification level and are moving on to one that does
- cannot continue your course because your education provider has closed down or defaulted.
Each of these exemptions has its own detailed conditions, and you still need to meet all the other requirements for a valid application. If you think one of them might apply to you, it is worth getting advice before you rely on it.
If you are a family member on someone else's Student visa
If you currently hold a Student visa as a dependant (for example, as the partner or child of a student) and you want to apply for your own Student visa as the main applicant, you must apply from outside Australia and be outside Australia when the visa is granted. There are no exemptions to this rule.
If you hold a different temporary visa
The Department keeps a list of temporary visas whose holders must apply for a Student visa from outside Australia. That list has just grown considerably. From 2 October 2026 it now also includes people on Temporary Graduate, Working Holiday, Work and Holiday, Training, Temporary Activity, Short Stay Specialist and Skills in Demand (and the older Temporary Skill Shortage) visas, among others. Visitor visas, eVisitor and ETA holders were already on the list.
If you hold one of these visas, there are no exemptions: you can only apply from outside Australia, and you must be outside Australia when the Student visa is granted. The full list is on the Department's Subclass 500 Student visa page.
If your last visa has already expired
Previously, some people whose Student visa had recently ended were able to lodge a new Student visa application onshore within a short window. That pathway has largely been closed. If you no longer hold a current visa, please get advice straight away rather than lodging anything, as your options may be quite limited.
What about Student Guardian visas?
If you currently hold a Student Guardian visa (subclass 590), you can still apply for a further Student Guardian visa while in Australia.
Change 2: Including family members in your application
Student visa applicants can no longer include family members (a partner and/or dependent children) in their application unless an exemption applies. This also applies to people applying for a further Student visa.
You may still be able to include family members if you are:
- a PhD student
- sponsored by DFAT or Defence
- a foreign government scholarship recipient, where your course or courses are fully funded by a foreign government
- an eligible student from a Pacific country or an ASEAN member country.
If your family members are already included on your current Student visa and you are applying in Australia, you may be able to include them in your next application. The same goes for family members already on your current visa if you need up to 12 more months to complete your main course, or if you need to lodge a new application because your education provider defaulted.
Two further things to keep in mind:
- You all need to be in the same place. You and every family member included in the application must be in the same location when it is lodged. If one of you has to apply from outside Australia, then everyone does.
- An ineligible family member's application will be invalid. The Department has said that if you include a family member who is not eligible to be included, their application will be invalid, so it is important to check eligibility carefully before lodging.
Change 3: No more adding family members later
This is the simplest change and the one with the fewest grey areas. Once your Student visa has been granted, you cannot add a partner or child to it afterwards. The Department has been clear that there are no exemptions.
If you are planning to bring family to Australia, this now needs to be sorted out at the time you apply, if you are eligible to include them at all.
Why does it matter where I am when I apply?
Under the new rules, lodging your application from the wrong place is not a small mistake. If you lodge inside Australia when you were required to be outside Australia, your application will be invalid. The Department has warned that an invalid application could affect your visa status, and if your current visa has already expired by the time this is discovered, you may not be able to apply for a further visa at all.
A couple of other practical points from the Department:
- If you have to apply from outside Australia, you may be able to return to Australia on another valid visa while your application is being processed, but you will need to be outside Australia again when the Student visa is granted.
- You will not receive a Bridging visa linked to an application lodged outside Australia.
Processing times vary, so please factor that into any travel, study or financial plans. The Department publishes current processing time estimates on its website, but these are a guide only and are not a guarantee of how long your application will take.
What you should do now
Before you enrol in a new course, pay fees, book travel or lodge an application, it is worth pausing to check:
- whether you need to be outside Australia to apply, or whether one of the exemptions applies to you
- whether any family members you want to include are eligible to be included
- how long your current visa has left, so you have time to make arrangements.
About Rocket & Ash Immigration Law
At Rocket & Ash Immigration Law, we specialise in helping students, graduates, and professionals navigate the complexities of Australian immigration law. Our expertise in visa applications ensures that you receive tailored advice and support throughout your immigration journey.
If you require assistance with your Student Visa Application or Graduate Visa Application our experienced team can help.
Please book a free 15-minute discussion with our team if you have further questions.
Written for and approved by Ivy Khine Su San, Solicitor LPN: 5514120
This article does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. For up-to-date information, please consult an immigration professional.
