{"id":23616,"date":"2026-09-18T13:28:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/?p=23616"},"modified":"2026-09-18T13:28:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:28:37","slug":"the-latest-updates-to-australias-immigration-policies-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/nhung-cap-nhat-moi-nhat-ve-chinh-sach-di-tru-uc\/","title":{"rendered":"The Latest Updates To Australia\u2019s Immigration Policies Announced By Minister Tony Burke"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On 17 September 2026, Minister Tony Burke announced a series of updates and policy directions relating to Australia\u2019s migration system, covering Student visas, Working Holiday Maker visas, Visitor visas, Partner visas, skilled migration, and measures to manage Net Overseas Migration. These developments show that the Government is continuing to tighten certain visa pathways while also prioritising skilled workers in sectors where Australia has strong workforce demand. Below are the key updates from the latest announcement.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"The
The Latest Updates To Australia\u2019s Immigration Policies Announced By Minister Tony Burke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
    \n
  1. Accompanying family members for international students: International students would not be permitted to bring accompanying family members to Australia, except for students from Pacific and ASEAN countries and those undertaking a PhD program. These groups are also currently eligible for lower Student visa application charges compared with applicants from other countries.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Study level requirements: International students would not be permitted to transfer to a course at a lower or equivalent qualification level than the course they have previously undertaken.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Conditions on Visitor visas: Visitor visas would be subject to a No Further Stay condition, restricting visa holders from applying for certain other visas while remaining in Australia.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Work and Holiday visa (Subclass 462): Applications for a second or third Work and Holiday visa would be subject to a ballot system. This means not all applicants would be able to lodge a visa application directly as they could previously.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Ministerial Direction 119 will be updated: The Government will add construction, agriculture, fisheries and teaching to the sectors prioritised for visa processing. Burke said this more targeted approach would also allow normal processing times to be restored for primary Working Holiday Maker visa applications.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Second-year Working Holiday visas would be capped at 45,000 places, compared with around 57,000 eligible applicants this year, while still requiring 88 days of specified work. Third-year visas would be limited to 5,000 places through a ballot, compared with around 31,000 eligible applicants this year, with the 6-month specified work requirement remaining. UK citizens would be treated differently under the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. The Government aims to continue reducing Net Overseas Migration (NOM), targeting around 245,000 in the 2026-27 financial year and 225,000 in 2027-28. Newly released data shows that NOM had already fallen to around 292,100 in the 12 months to March<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Visa overstayers: The Government plans to add 100 compliance officers and 250 detention beds, while also considering the use of a former quarantine facility in Melbourne.<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. SC485 and Free Trade Agreements: When asked about post-study work rights, including arrangements affecting Indian nationals, Tony Burke said the Government does not intend to weaken concessions already committed to under Free Trade Agreements.<\/span><\/li>\n
  10. Not all visa transitions are considered \u201cvisa hopping\u201d: Tony Burke distinguished between using the visa system simply to prolong a person\u2019s stay in Australia and following a legitimate pathway such as Student \u2192 Graduate \u2192 skilled employment \u2192 permanent residency. The Government continues to support skilled migration that helps fill occupations Australia needs.<\/span><\/li>\n
  11. Student visas - stricter financial capacity checks: Tony Burke said the Government will look more closely at students\u2019 financial capacity and assets to ensure they can genuinely afford their studies. He stressed that education providers should be selling an education outcome, not a \u201cmigration outcome\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n
  12. Partner visas - processing delays remain a major issue: Burke acknowledged that demand for Partner visas remains high and that family migration is already at its processing limits. He said changes to Visitor visas could allow couples to spend more time together in Australia while waiting for a Partner visa, without automatically moving onto a Bridging visa.<\/span><\/li>\n
  13. Construction occupations will receive greater priority across both temporary and permanent migration: In addition to adding construction to Ministerial Direction 119, Tony Burke said the Government wants to give greater priority to construction skills across both temporary and permanent migration programs to help increase housing supply.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Ng\u00e0y 17\/09\/2026, B\u1ed9 tr\u01b0\u1edfng Tony Burke \u0111\u00e3 c\u00f4ng b\u1ed1 m\u1ed9t lo\u1ea1t c\u1eadp nh\u1eadt v\u00e0 \u0111\u1ecbnh h\u01b0\u1edbng m\u1edbi li\u00ean quan \u0111\u1ebfn ch\u00ednh s\u00e1ch di tr\u00fa \u00dac, bao g\u1ed3m Student visa, Working Holiday Maker, Visitor visa, Partner visa, skilled migration v\u00e0 c\u00e1c bi\u1ec7n ph\u00e1p ki\u1ec3m so\u00e1t Net Overseas Migration. Nh\u1eefng thay \u0111\u1ed5i n\u00e0y cho th\u1ea5y Ch\u00ednh ph\u1ee7 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[199],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tin-tuc-moi-nhat"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23619,"href":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23616\/revisions\/23619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skilldirect.com.au\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}