Further Subclass 500 Visa: Onshore Rules and Exceptions

From 2 October 2026, new rules change who can apply for and be granted a Student visa (subclass 500) or Student Guardian visa (subclass 590) while in Australia, and whether family members can be included. If you are a current Student visa holder hoping to lodge another Student visa onshore, you will be affected by this change unless one of a limited set of exemptions applies to you.

This page sets out the general onshore restriction, each specified exemption and the exact conditions attached to it, the position for family members, and what to do if no exemption fits your situation — so you can decide whether to lodge onshore, lodge offshore, or adjust your study plans around the 2 October 2026 commencement.

The reform is given legal effect by the Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026, which amended Schedule 1 item 1222 of the Migration Regulations 1994 from 2 October 2026, together with two instruments made under that item: LIN 26/102, which lists the temporary visas whose holders must apply from outside Australia, and LIN 26/087, which amended LIN 20/158 to set the exemption classes. As its title shows, it amends the earlier LIN 20/158 instrument, which specifies classes of persons for Student (Temporary) (Class TU) visa applications. That instrument operates alongside Schedule 1 of the Migration Regulations 1994, which governs how and where a Student visa application may validly be made.

There is an important distinction here that a lot of circulating commentary gets wrong. An instrument being registered on the Federal Register of Legislation is not the same as it being in force on that date. The Department of Home Affairs consistently states the operational rules apply from 2 October 2026. The register date is the ‘as made’ date; the commencement that matters for applicants is 2 October 2026. All three instruments commenced on 2 October 2026: the Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026 on the day after registration (section 2), and LIN 26/102 and LIN 26/087 immediately after those Regulations commenced (section 2 of each).

One more distinction is worth keeping straight. On the legislation register you can view both the Legislative instrument and its Explanatory statement. The operative text — the instrument itself and the Migration Regulations — is what governs. The Explanatory statement explains intent but does not override the operative words. The Home Affairs fact sheet summarises the rules in plain language, but it is a summary, not the law. Where your situation turns on an exact condition, the operative instrument is what decides it.

The general rule. Under the new rules, most temporary visa holders need to be outside Australia when they lodge a Student or Student Guardian visa application (Migration Regulations 1994, Schedule 1 item 1222(4); LIN 26/102). A Student visa applicant who had to lodge from outside Australia must also be outside Australia when the visa is granted (Schedule 2 clause 500.411(1)); a Student Guardian visa can be granted in or outside Australia (clause 590.411). For current Student visa holders who want another Student visa, the position is the same: unless you meet limited exemption criteria, you now need to be outside Australia when you lodge and outside Australia when the visa is granted.

The dependant-to-primary trap. There is one hard line with no way around it. If you hold a Student visa as a dependant (that is, as a family unit member who met the secondary criteria) and you want to apply for a Student visa as the primary applicant, you must lodge from outside Australia and be outside Australia when the visa is granted. There are no exemptions to this rule. This catches, for example, a spouse currently in Australia on a dependant Student visa who now wants to study in their own right — the onshore exemptions below do not help them.

Student Guardians are treated differently. Current Student Guardian (subclass 590) visa holders can continue to lodge a further Student Guardian visa application while in Australia.

Your current visa is unaffected. The changes do not affect the Student visa you already hold. They bite at the point you apply for a new one.

If you currently hold a Student visa, the fact sheet lists the circumstances in which you may be able to apply for another Student visa in Australia. Each is summarised below with the condition the fact sheet states. The exemption classes are in Schedule 1 item 1222(3A) of the Migration Regulations 1994 and sections 16 to 19 of LIN 20/158 (compilation F2026C01038, in force from 2 October 2026).

Completing your principal (main) course — up to 12 more months

You may apply onshore if you need up to 12 more months after your original course end date to complete your studies. Two conditions attach to this:

• you must be continuing to study with the same education provider; and
• if you have a package of courses, the course you need more time to complete must be your main course (your principal course — the highest or main qualification the package is built around).

Hypothetical illustration (not a legal determination): Priya, a hypothetical student, holds a Student visa for a bachelor degree that was due to finish in November. She has failed one unit and her provider has confirmed she needs a further semester with the same university to complete the same degree. She needs less than 12 more months and is staying with the same provider for her main course — the completion exemption is the one to examine.

Course progression to a higher AQF level

You may apply onshore if you have completed your main course that has an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level and are progressing to a course at a higher AQF level. The AQF ranks Australian qualifications from level 1 to level 10; progression means moving up that ladder, not sideways or down.

There is a specific restriction on this one. If you completed a higher education course, your next course must also be a higher education course delivered by a higher education provider. Related progression cases are also covered: completing school studies and progressing to a course that does not have an AQF level, and completing a course without an AQF level and progressing to one that has an AQF level.

Hypothetical illustration (not a legal determination): Chen, a hypothetical student, has completed a bachelor degree (a higher education course) and has an offer for a masters by coursework at a higher education provider — a higher AQF level in the higher education sector. That pattern is the course progression exemption. Check the exact AQF level of both your current and proposed course before relying on it.

PhD (doctoral) study

You may apply onshore if you are applying to study for a PhD. A doctoral degree falls within what the Regulations call a postgraduate research course — a course of study leading to the award of a masters degree (research) or a doctoral degree.

Provider default

You may apply onshore if you cannot continue your course because your education provider has defaulted. For this exemption, provider default means the course does not start on the agreed starting day, stops being provided after it starts but before it is completed, or is not provided in full to the student, including where this follows a sanction under Part 6 of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (LIN 20/158, section 4). The further Student visa application must be made within 12 months after the provider default day (section 17). You can check your provider’s and course’s current registration on the CRICOS course search and read the overseas-student regulatory framework through the Department of Education.

School study and government sponsorship

You may also apply onshore if you are applying to do primary or secondary school studies, or if you are sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) or Defence. Under the Regulations, a Foreign Affairs student and a Defence student each need the support of the relevant Minister — the Foreign Minister or the Defence Minister — for the grant of the visa.

Reading the table: the onshore route is only open if a specified exemption fits. If none does, the offshore route is the fallback — you lodge from outside Australia and must be outside Australia when the visa is granted. For a dependant wanting to become a primary applicant, offshore is the only route, with no exemption available.

In the limited circumstances where family members can accompany a student, they must apply at the time the primary student applies — the ability to add ‘subsequent entrants’ later has been removed for all students. The Department of Education’s statement indicates that eligible onshore applicants may include only family members already in Australia, so that families already together are not separated.

The same statement describes limited exemptions on including family members applying to: PhD students; nationals of Pacific and ASEAN member countries; and students sponsored by Australian or foreign governments. In law, a partner or child can be included only if the student is a Defence or Foreign Affairs student, holds a passport from a Pacific-regional country or one of ten listed South-East Asian countries, is enrolled in a doctoral degree or in study fully funded by a foreign government, or is finishing a course or affected by provider default and the family member already holds a dependant Student visa; family members in Australia who already held, or had applied for, a dependant Student visa on 2 October 2026 can also be included (Migration Regulations 1994, Schedule 1 item 1222(3)(da) and (5A); LIN 20/158, sections 20 to 23). One procedural point is clear from the fact sheet: the primary applicant and all family members included in the application must be in the same location when the application is lodged.

This is why timing matters so much under the new rules: if a family member is not in the application when it is lodged, there is no longer a later route to add them.

If you lodged before 2 October 2026. An application made before 2 October 2026, including one that included family members, is assessed under the rules in place before that date, because the Student Visa Reform amendments apply only to applications made on or after 2 October 2026 (Migration Regulations 1994, Schedule 13 clause 16601; LIN 20/158, section 24). Lodging a valid application before the commencement date therefore locks in the earlier framework for that application.

On visa application charges. The base visa application charge for most Student visa applicants is $2,500, with lower base charges for holders of some passports and for ELICOS or non-award course applicants (Migration Regulations 1994, Schedule 1 item 1222(2)(a)).

Meeting an exemption is only the start. Fitting an onshore exemption lets you lodge and be granted in Australia; it does not decide the application. Every Subclass 500 criterion must still be satisfied at the time a decision is made on the application. For a primary applicant, those criteria include enrolment in a course of study, being a genuine applicant for entry and stay as a student, genuine access to sufficient funds, adequate health insurance arrangements, and the specified public interest and special return criteria. If your course of study is a postgraduate research course, public interest criterion 4003B also applies. Provider letters and AQF confirmations help you make out an exemption, but they do not remove any of these criteria.

If you may be onshore after 2 October 2026 and want another Student visa: work out which exemption fits before you do anything else, because that decides whether you can stay in Australia to apply. For course progression, the course you are moving to must have a higher AQF level than the course you completed, and if you completed a higher education course the next one must be a higher education course delivered by a higher education provider (LIN 20/158, section 19(3)).

If no exemption fits: plan an offshore application. You must be outside Australia when you lodge and when the visa is granted. Confirm your course is current on the CRICOS course search before you commit.

If your provider has defaulted: keep the provider’s written notice, check the course’s registration on CRICOS, and read your rights under the ESOS regulatory framework for overseas students.

If you lodged before 2 October 2026: that application continues to be assessed under the rules in place when it was made (Schedule 13 clause 16601); any new application is assessed under the new rules.

You can read more in our companion guides on the 2026 onshore Student visa rules and subclass 500 exceptions and whether you can apply for a Student visa onshore in 2026, or see our Student visa service.