The Minister for Home Affairs has announced seven migration measures. They touch student visas, visitor visas, working holiday visas, skilled processing priorities, and the way character decisions treat criminal and family violence matters.

No commencement date has been announced for any of them. That matters more than it sounds. These changes are being made through regulation rather than legislation, so they do not need to pass Parliament — which means they can commence at short notice.

If you are affected by any of the measures below, the practical question is not when does this start. It is can I lodge before it does.

The context the Government gave

Net Overseas Migration has fallen to 292,000, down 47 per cent from the post-Covid peak in 2023, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released the same day.

The Government says these measures are designed to deliver the Budget forecasts of 245,000 Net Overseas Migration this financial year and 225,000 in 2027–28. For how those forecasts translate into actual visa places, see our breakdown of the 2026–27 Migration Program planning levels.

The seven measures, as announced

1. Stronger compliance so people without valid visas leave

The release refers to “strengthening compliance measures to ensure people without valid visas leave the country”. The written release gives no further detail.

2. Ministerial Direction 119 to be updated — priority processing by sector (now done — see update above)

Skilled migration processing priority will support a range of sectors, named as healthcare, construction, education, law enforcement, defence, resources, agriculture, aquaculture and fishing.

This is an expansion, not a fresh start. Direction 119 was last changed in July 2026 so that only defence and law enforcement were prioritised for offshore applications. The announced change widens that list again. Superseded on 19 September 2026: Direction 119 was not updated. It was replaced by Ministerial Directions 121 and 122, and the sector list as made reads Construction, Healthcare, Teaching, Agriculture, Aquaculture, Fishing and Resources, plus law enforcement and defence interests.

3. Student visa integrity — visa hopping and secondary applicants

Two separate changes: stopping “visa hopping”, and restricting secondary applicants on most student visas. The written release does not define visa hopping, and does not say which student visas count as “most”. See the section below for what the Minister said about both at the press conference.

4. A crackdown on rogue migration agents

Aimed at agents “who knowingly support visa applications without merit”.

5. No Further Stay condition on all visitor visas

A No Further Stay condition will be applied to all visitor visas, so they are “only used by genuine visitors and not as a pathway to extending a stay in Australia”.

6. Ministerial Direction 110 to be updated

To better protect children who are victims of crime, better protect victims of domestic and family violence, and reflect “modern Australia’s commitment to stamping out hatred”.

7. Working Holiday Maker changes — a ballot

A ballot system for second and third year working holiday visas, with a regional work requirement. The Government also says it will stabilise processing times to three months.

Detail given at the Minister’s press conference

Everything above comes from the Minister’s written media release. The detail below was given by the Minister at the press conference on 17 September. It is not in the media release, it is not yet in any legislative instrument, and at the time of writing it does not appear anywhere on the Department of Home Affairs website. It is set out here because it is the detail people actually need.

Working Holiday Maker ballot — the numbers

• Second year visas capped at 45,000, down from 57,000 last year
• Third year visas capped at 5,000
• The existing work requirement stays: 88 days of regional work for the second year, six months for the third

For context: the Department’s own Working Holiday Maker latest news page was last updated on 11 September 2026 — six days before the announcement — and still says nothing about a ballot for second and third year visas. Anyone checking the official source today will not find these numbers.

Student visas — what “restricting secondary applicants” means

• Most international students will be unable to bring family members
• Students completing a PhD, and students from the Pacific and some South-East Asian countries, will still be able to

“Visa hopping” — what it means

Students will not be able to move between courses unless the new course is a higher qualification — for example, moving from a bachelor’s degree to a masters. The written media release does not define the term; this came from the press conference.

Compliance and overstayers

• People who overstay a visa are to be placed in detention
• An additional 100 compliance officers to locate an estimated 77,000 overstayers
• A further 250 detention beds, with former quarantine facilities under consideration

Why we have separated this out. A cap, an exception list and a definition are exactly the kind of detail that can shift between a press conference and the legislative instrument that finally gives effect to it. These figures are what the Minister said; the binding version is whatever ends up in the instrument. We will update this page when those are published.

What this means, by situation

If you are on a student visa, or planning one

Two separate issues. The restriction on secondary applicants affects whether family can be included, with PhD students and applicants from the Pacific and some South-East Asian countries indicated as exceptions. On visa hopping, the test is whether your next course is a higher qualification than your current one — a sideways or downward move is what is being targeted. If your current visa is running out, our guide on whether to apply for a 485 or a further student visa is a useful starting point, and if your course has been cancelled, see what a cancelled qualification means for your student visa.

If you are a working holiday maker

A ballot is a fundamental change. Today, meeting the specified work requirement entitles you to apply for a second or third year visa. Under a ballot, meeting the requirement would make you eligible to enter a draw — 45,000 places for second year and 5,000 for third, on the figures given. If a further year is part of a longer plan, read the working holiday to permanent residency pathway before you rely on it.

If you hold or want a visitor visa

A No Further Stay condition prevents most onshore applications for a further visa while you hold that visa. Applying it to all visitor visas is a significant change for anyone who has used a visitor visa as a bridge while another application was prepared. If you have already had a visitor visa refused, see what to do after a visitor visa refusal.

If you are in a skilled pathway

Updated 19 September: Direction 119 no longer applies. Directions 121 and 122 now set the order applications are considered in, and they add a separate onshore-versus-offshore tier. If your nominated occupation sits in one of the nine named sectors, that is favourable. If it does not, expect to sit behind those that do. We track invitation activity on our subclass 189 invitation rounds tracker.

If you have a partner or family application involving criminal or family violence matters

Direction 110 governs how character decisions weigh those factors. The announced changes are protective in intent, but the practical effect will depend on the wording of the revised Direction, which has not yet been published.

What you can do now

Do not panic, and do not rush a weak application. A refusal follows you into later applications — see why visa applications get refused. Lodging something unprepared, to beat a date that has not been announced, is usually the more expensive mistake.

Do check whether you can lodge before commencement. Where a change is genuinely adverse to you and you are already close to lodging, timing is worth advice.

Do get your evidence in order now. Skills assessments, English results and relationship evidence take weeks. Having them ready is useful whatever the final rules say.

Do watch for the legislative instruments. The detail lives in the instruments and the revised Directions, not in the media release. We will update this page as they are published.

On rogue agents

One of the seven measures targets migration agents “who knowingly support visa applications without merit”.

For anyone choosing who to work with, the protection already exists and costs nothing to use: a Registered Migration Agent has a MARN, appears on a public register, and is bound by a Code of Conduct. You can look up any agent’s registration before you pay them anything.

Sohail Cheema is a Registered Migration Agent, MARN 1170438. You can verify that on the Register of Migration Agents.

Official sources

• Migration reform to end rorts and bring in the skills Australia needs for a strong economy — Minister for Home Affairs, 17 September 2026
• Working Holiday Maker program — latest news — Department of Home Affairs, last updated 11 September 2026

Figures and exceptions attributed above to the Minister’s press conference of 17 September 2026 are not, at the time of writing, published by the Department.

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Disclaimer: This article is general information only and is current as at 18 September 2026. It summarises a ministerial announcement; the legislative instruments giving effect to these measures had not been published at the time of writing, and the final rules may differ. It does not take your personal circumstances into account and should not be relied on as advice for your own application. For advice specific to your situation, speak to a Registered Migration Agent.