Australia’s move to restrict student dependants and tighten course changes has drawn a mixed sector response, with education leaders supporting action against visa misuse while warning that the country could lose talented students.
Home Affairs minister Tony Burke announced the measures on September 17 as part of a wider package designed to reduce net overseas migration and give the government greater control over who arrives, stays in and leaves Australia.
“The government supports immigration but is opposed to anyone rorting the immigration system,” Burke said.
“Almost everyone who comes to Australia is a good guest in our country. These reforms are to ensure that our migration system can be better targeted to the current needs of Australia.”
International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) chief executive Phil Honeywood welcomed the crackdown on visa hopping but warned that preventing most students from bringing partners or children would push some towards competitor destinations.
“Students from key source markets understandably prefer to bring their partner with them if they are going to be away from their home country for three to four years,” Honeywood said.
“We will definitely lose talented young people as a result of today’s announcement.”
Under the changes, most international students and graduate visa holders will no longer be able to add family members to their visas. Special conditions will continue to allow students from Pacific and ASEAN nations, as well as those on certain courses including PhDs, to bring dependants.
“We will no longer be adding to the stock of students automatically being able to bring family members over,” Burke said.
People already in Australia with family members attached to their visas will not be affected. The government has not yet announced when the restrictions will take effect or published a full list of exempt courses and cohorts.
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) welcomed the exemption for PhD candidates but argued that the government had not extended it far enough, calling for all higher-degree-by-research candidates, including research master’s students, to be covered.
CAPA said postgraduate research had the highest ratio of family members to students of any student visa category, at 61 dependants for every 100 students – four times the coursework rate.
“Recognising that they should keep their families with them is common sense,” said CAPA national president Jesse Gardner-Russell.
The restrictions are likely to have a disproportionate impact on South Asia. Analysis by Studymove managing director Keri Ramirez found that dependant visas accounted for around 10% of higher education student visas granted in 2025/26.
More than 70% of student-dependant visas granted offshore last financial year went to applicants from Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka, totalling 10,448 visas.
The change could prove particularly consequential for Bhutan, which is not covered by the Pacific or ASEAN exemptions. Global Reach managing director, Ravi Lochan Singh, warned that it could weaken longstanding educational and diplomatic ties, as many Bhutanese students marry young and travel with their spouses.
The reforms will also require students transferring courses, including at the same institution or qualification level, to apply for a new visa. Students whose provider closes or who need additional time to complete their course will still be able to seek an extension.
A separate rule will limit progression after completion to a higher Australian Qualifications Framework level. A student completing a bachelor’s degree could progress to a master’s, but would no longer be able to move down the qualification scale or repeatedly cycle through courses and providers.
“You can go up the qualification scale, but only up the qualification scale,” Burke said.
He said the government wanted to stop students enrolling with “not-so-legitimate” providers offering lower fees, weak attendance requirements and opportunities to work rather than study.
Independent Higher Education Australia (IHEA) said the combined measures would erode student choice and damage the international education market.
“Eroding choice for international students hurts Australia’s reputation as a welcoming destination,” said IHEA chief executive Peter Hendy.
Claire Field, principal of Claire Field & Associates, described the changes as “less disruptive than many were dreading – and than other political parties are currently proposing”.
Cutting migration too hard comes with consequences for our economy, our universities, our workforce and the services Australians rely on
Luke Sheehy, Universities Australia
Universities Australia welcomed the decision to keep broader migration and student-planning levels steady but warned that existing barriers were preventing institutions from reaching those levels.
“Cutting migration too hard comes with consequences for our economy, our universities, our workforce and the services Australians rely on,” said Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy.
The government has forecast net overseas migration of 245,000 in the current financial year and 225,000 in 2027/28. The latest figure stands at 292,000, down 47% from the post-pandemic peak in 2023.
The National Planning Level will remain at 295,000 new international student commencements in 2027. However, Universities Australia said commencements were already tracking 8% below last year amid the AUD$2,500 non-refundable visa application fee, slow processing and other barriers.
“You can’t set a sustainable level with one hand and make it harder to get there with the other,” Sheehy said.
At EAIE last week, The PIE heard that student visa approval rates were around 19% for Nepal and 49% for India, while IEAA said Australia’s AUD$54bn international education sector supports approximately 250,000 jobs.
Beyond international education, the migration package will impose a “No Further Stay” condition on future visitor visas, except for protection applications. It will also introduce ballots for second- and third-year Working Holiday Maker visa extensions and strengthen enforcement against visa overstayers.
The PIE reported in August that the government was considering restrictions on dependants, tighter course-change rules and limits on onshore student pathways. The UK introduced similar dependant restrictions in 2024, generally limiting eligibility to postgraduate research and government-sponsored students.
The announcement follows One Nation’s pledge to cut more than 750,000 temporary visas over three years, including sharp reductions to student numbers. Burke denied that Labor’s package had been driven by the recent political debate, saying the measures had been largely formalised by February.
Sheehy welcomed Burke’s acknowledgement that migration had not caused Australia’s housing crisis, saying international students had too often been blamed for problems they did not create.
“Today’s announcement recognises that migration has to work for Australia’s economy and skills needs. Now we need the international education settings to do the same,” he said.
