New visa rules in Australia from October 2: No more visa hopping for international students, agents selling ‘false hope’ under scrutiny

New visa rules in Australia starting from October 2, 2026.

Australia unveiled its new visa rules effective from October 2, 2026 which will put a stop to “permanently temporary migration” and will also crack down on visa agents and immigration lawyers who are selling “false hope” to foreigners about how they can continue to live in Australia. International students can’t keep on studying in Australia just to stay in the country and now they will have to apply for a separate visa if they want to transfer courses. Also, one can’t apply for a lower-grade course after completing a higher-grade course only to remain in Australia on a student visa. This means a student can’t switch to vocational training from a bachelor’s or master’s degree because it is then evident that they just want a visa to stay in Australia.

‘When Australians go to another country’

Assistant minister for international education, Julian Hill, said the changes in the visa rules are aimed at stopping the increase of “permanently temporary” migration.“When Australians go to another country, they do not believe they have some God-given right to hop around from visa to visa for years or decades and game other nations’ appeals and courts systems – and neither should guests in our country,” Hill said.Hill said that from July 1, 2027, a student’s visa will not be extended even if they are transferring into a different course, to prevent “rorting and ensures students can’t just not turn up for the first 6 months, fail their subjects then go to a cheaper provider”.In a social media post, the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said: “As of today there are new rules to put an end to student visa hopping. It’s all about ensuring we have a migration system that Australians can be confident in.” Migration agents and lawyers selling “false hope” by helping individuals to pursue baseless visa claims to help them stay in Australia longer will also be targeted under new rules.

What is visa hopping?

Tony Burke explained that there are individuals who would never meet the qualifications to become a permanent resident and so they would hop from one visa category to another, and then they will use the appeal process so that they can stay in Australia as long as possible until it eventually becomes absurd not to let them stay, because at that point they have Australian citizen children and they are also integrated into the local community.