Overview
- The government has unveiled a multi-part plan that aims to cut net overseas migration to 225,000 by 2028 by tightening rules for international students, visitors and working-holidaymakers.
- Key measures bar most international students from bringing family while exempting PhD and select Pacific and ASEAN students, restrict onshore course changes by requiring qualification progression, and cap second- and third-year working-holiday spots via a ballot.
- Visa costs and decisioning have already hardened with successive fee rises to student and temporary graduate visas and record-high student visa refusal rates, which critics say raise equity and reputational concerns for Australia as a study destination.
- The package restores 'no further stay' visitor conditions and reintroduces onshore detention for overstayers, drawing scrutiny because a private contractor, Secure Journeys (an MTC subsidiary), holds a large onshore detention contract and has been criticised over conditions.
- Student groups, Universities Australia and the Greens warn the changes could damage university revenue, tighten labour pipelines that feed skilled migration, and echo populist anti-immigration rhetoric that has ignited political and rights-based pushback.