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Tamara's World  /  Blog  /  Australia
08 Oct 2026
Australia student visa changes

Australia Just Closed the Onshore Door for International Students

Categories Immigration, Study Abroad, Visa Updates

Australia has closed the door on most onshore student visa applications. These Australia student visa changes took effect on October 2, 2026. They sit inside new migration regulations. The same reform stops most applicants from adding a partner or child to a student visa application. It landed days after separate fee increases pushed the cost of applying even higher.

Anyone in Australia who hopes to switch onto a new student visa needs to check the rules now. Some students still qualify for an onshore application. Many do not.

What the Australia Student Visa Changes Require

Australia student visa changes

The Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026 reworked the rules for subclass 500 student visas and subclass 590 student guardian visas. Australia’s Federal Register of Legislation lists the instrument as F2026L01347. It commenced on October 2, 2026.

A new rule, paragraph 1222(3)(aa), covers subclass 500 holders directly. They must generally be outside Australia to apply for another student visa as the student. That applies no matter how they held their current visa, whether as the student or as a family member. Sixteen other visa types also face the new offshore requirement. These include subclasses 400, 407, 408, 417, 457, 462, and both forms of 482.

The rule does not stop at lodging. Clause 500.411 adds a second layer. Anyone required to apply from offshore must also stay offshore until the visa is granted. Migration lawyer James Bae, writing for Visa Plan Lawyers, explained the target. The rule is meant to stop people who leave briefly to lodge an application, then return to Australia on a bridging visa while they wait.

Who Still Qualifies for an Onshore Student Visa

Exemptions remain, but they are narrow. A student holding a visa in their own right can still apply onshore in a few cases. These cover Defence students, Foreign Affairs students, and school students. A separate instrument, LIN 26/087, lists further exempt groups.

Doctoral students enrolled at the time of application still qualify. So do students hit by a registered provider’s default, including sanctions or suspension under the Education Services for Overseas Students Act. A student who has not finished their course, but will finish within 12 months, also qualifies. The same goes for a student moving up to a higher-level course after finishing their current one. The move must be a genuine step up, not sideways or down.

One onshore pathway disappeared entirely. Students used to get 28 days after a visa ended to lodge a new application onshore. That option is gone. A narrower replacement now applies in one situation only: when the Administrative Review Tribunal overturns a cancellation after the visa has already ended.

New Student Visa Limits on Partners and Children

Family members face the tightest new restrictions. The old subsequent entrant pathway is gone. Partners and children can no longer apply for a student visa as family once the student’s own visa has been granted. Under paragraph 1222(3)(e), the whole family must apply together. One combined application, lodged at the same time as the student’s.

Limited exceptions still exist. A family member can apply separately if the student is a Defence or Foreign Affairs student. The same applies if the student holds a passport from a listed Pacific or Southeast Asian country, or receives a foreign government scholarship. Family members who already held a student visa on October 2, 2026, or applied before that date, keep their existing status. A child born in Australia on or after that date, to a current student visa holder, also qualifies for inclusion. Course progression students get no family exemption at all.

Rising Visa Fees Add to the Pressure

The onshore and family rules arrived on top of a separate cost increase. From July 1, 2026, the base charge for subclass 500 and 590 visas rose from AUD 2,000 to AUD 2,500. That is a steeper jump than most other visa categories received. Other visa charges rose by roughly 25% on their first instalment. Citizenship application fees rose too, in line with inflation.

Together, the fee rise and the October reforms raise both the price and the difficulty of studying in Australia from inside the country. Fee increases tied to immigration processing are not unique to Australia. They have become a recurring theme across major destination countries this year.

What International Students Should Do Now

Anyone who lodged an application before October 2, 2026, keeps the old rules. The Department of Home Affairs assesses those applications under the settings in force when they were filed. Existing student visas stay valid and unaffected.

For everyone else, check eligibility early. Do this before booking travel or enrolling in a new course. Students weighing other options might also look at application deadlines in other countries or funded scholarship programs, which carry their own visa pathways. A registered migration agent or lawyer can confirm which exemption, if any, fits a specific case. Home Affairs assesses most of these exemptions one by one.

Common Questions on the Australia Student Visa Changes

  • When did the Australia student visa changes take effect? October 2, 2026, under the Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026 (F2026L01347).
  • Can current student visa holders still apply onshore for another student visa? Generally no. Exceptions include doctoral study, provider default, course completion, and course progression to a higher qualification.
  • Can I add my partner or child to my student visa after it’s granted? No. The subsequent entrant pathway for family members no longer exists, apart from a short list of exemptions.
  • Does this affect visas lodged before October 2, 2026? No. Those applications keep the rules that applied on the day they were filed.
  • How much does a subclass 500 student visa cost now? The base charge rose from AUD 2,000 to AUD 2,500 on July 1, 2026, ahead of the October onshore and family rules.
  • Is the 28-day onshore reapplication window still available? No. A narrower route now exists only after a successful Administrative Review Tribunal appeal against a cancellation.

29 Sep 2026
Gold Fields Northern Star takeover

Why Northern Star Said No to a $27 Billion Gold Fields Takeover

Categories Business

Northern Star Resources has rejected a roughly $27 billion takeover approach from South Africa’s Gold Fields, the Australian gold miner confirmed. The Gold Fields Northern Star takeover proposal, reported at around $27 billion, or about A$38.7 billion in Australian dollars, would have created the world’s second-largest gold producer by output had it gone through. Northern Star’s board called the unsolicited offer “opportunistic” and said it undervalued the company. The rejection, announced around September 27, 2026, halts one of the largest potential mining mergers proposed this year.

Gold Fields’ $27 Billion Approach for Northern Star

Gold Fields, based in Johannesburg, made an unsolicited approach for Northern Star, according to Bloomberg. The two companies did not confirm every detail of the proposal publicly. But multiple outlets, including Bloomberg and Mining.com, put the value at roughly $27 billion. CNBC Africa and the trade publication Mining Technology carried similar figures. Had the two miners combined, the resulting company would have ranked as the world’s second-largest gold producer by output, trailing only the industry’s current leader.

Why the Board Rejected the Gold Fields Northern Star Takeover

Northern Star’s board reviewed the proposal and turned it down. It described the approach as opportunistic. The board said the offer did not reflect the company’s underlying value and did not include enough of a premium for shareholders. Boards commonly use this language when they believe a bidder is trying to buy assets cheaply during a period of weakness. Northern Star gave no indication that it is open to further talks at the current price.

Gold mining deals of this size are uncommon. A roughly $27 billion approach ranks among the largest unsolicited offers the sector has seen in recent years, reflecting how much gold miners’ valuations have moved as gold prices have climbed. Higher gold prices tend to make acquirers more willing to pay up for scale, since a bigger combined producer can spread costs across more ounces of output and gain more negotiating weight with equipment suppliers, contractors, and buyers. That backdrop is part of why Gold Fields moved on Northern Star now rather than in a weaker gold-price environment.

For Northern Star’s shareholders, the board’s rejection is itself a signal about how it views the company’s standalone prospects. A board that believes its own turnaround plan, including fixes at Kalgoorlie, will lift the share price further has less incentive to accept a bid it sees as opportunistic, even one worth tens of billions of dollars. That calculation, more than any single number in the offer, is what shaped the board’s public rejection.

Gold Fields Northern Star takeover

Activist Pressure and Kalgoorlie Setbacks Formed the Backdrop

The approach landed at a difficult moment for Northern Star. Activist investor Elliott Investment Management had reportedly been pushing for changes at the company. Northern Star had also gone through recent leadership changes. On top of that, the company had faced operational setbacks at its Kalgoorlie processing plant in Australia, a key part of its production base. Reports frame these as contextual pressures rather than a confirmed reason for the board’s decision. It is not clear how directly they shaped the rejection, but they help explain why Gold Fields may have seen an opening to approach Northern Star now.

Gold Fields Shares Fall After the Rejection Becomes Public

Gold Fields’ share price fell after news of the rejected approach became public, according to reporting on the deal. Investors often react negatively when a high-profile takeover bid collapses, since it can signal wasted deal costs and an uncertain path forward for the acquirer’s growth plans. The setback adds to a year already marked by large swings in corporate valuations. Elsewhere in markets, AMD’s climb past a $1 trillion market cap showed how quickly valuations can move in the other direction, while the EBRD’s outlook for African economic growth offers a wider view of the economic backdrop in the region where Gold Fields is based.

Does Gold Fields Come Back With a Bigger Number?

The open question is whether Gold Fields returns with a sweetened offer. Companies that get turned down sometimes come back with a higher bid, especially when they see clear strategic value in combining with a target. Others walk away and look elsewhere. Gold Fields has not said publicly whether it plans to revise its approach. Northern Star, for its part, has not signaled any openness to a new round of talks. Until one side moves, the takeover remains dead for now, and neither company has offered a timeline for what happens next.

Common Questions About the Gold Fields Bid

What is the Gold Fields Northern Star takeover approach worth?
Multiple outlets, including Bloomberg and Mining.com, reported the offer at roughly $27 billion, or about A$38.7 billion in Australian dollars.

Why did Northern Star reject the offer?
Northern Star’s board called the proposal “opportunistic” and said it did not offer enough of a premium, undervaluing the company relative to its assets.

What would the combined company have looked like?
Had the deal gone through, Gold Fields and Northern Star together would have formed the world’s second-largest gold producer by output.

Was Northern Star under other pressure at the time?
Reports note that Northern Star had faced activist pressure from Elliott Investment Management, recent leadership changes, and operational setbacks at its Kalgoorlie processing plant, though it is unclear how directly these factors shaped the board’s rejection.

How did markets react to the rejection?
Reports said Gold Fields’ share price fell after news of the rejected approach became public.

Will Gold Fields make another offer?
That remains an open question. Gold Fields has not said whether it will return with a sweetened bid, and Northern Star has not indicated it is open to a revised proposal.

Reporting Sources