International students would not be permitted to change their courses, as per latest visa update.

Starting from July of this year, new rules will go into effect that will prohibit international students with a SC 500 visa from changing their course of study or research topic without approval from the Minister. The Migration Act 1958 has been altered by the Australian government to modify the regulations for visa Subclass 500, which is a student visa. According to the statement released by the federal home minister, the legislation requires holders of Subclass 500 (Student) visas who are pursuing or plan to pursue higher education to obtain approval from the Minister before making any changes to their course of study or research topic. The Minister will only approve the change if they are satisfied that there is no unreasonable risk of the transfer of critical technology by the visa holder.

The new rules also permit the cancellation of a visa if the Minister determines that there is a risk of the undesired transfer of critical technology by the visa holder. According to the statement, the cancellation of visas will be discretionary for certain protection visas and related bridging visas but will be mandatory for all other types of visas.

The department has imposed new visa conditions, 8204A and 8204B, for student visa holders who are pursuing a higher education course or postgraduate research course and plan to change their course of study, thesis, or research topic.

The updated regulations grant the Minister the authority to refuse to authorize a change in a visa holder’s course of study, thesis, or research topic if it is deemed to be in the public interest. The visa holder may challenge the Minister’s decision. The new visa conditions 8204A and 8204B will only apply to student visas submitted after July 1, 2022, and will not impact previously submitted applications. These conditions will eventually be imposed on the specified visa subclasses at a later date as determined by the Minister through a notifiable instrument, following the implementation of provisions for the Student (subclass 500) visa.

• Training (subclass 407)
• Temporary Activity (subclass 408)
• Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) (subclass 400)
• Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482)
• Temporary Graduate (subclass 485)
• Recognised Skill Graduate (subclass 476)
• Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494).
• Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) (Subclass 191)
• Global Talent Independent Program visas:
• Employer Nomination Scheme (permanent)(subclass 186) visa
• Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (permanent)(subclass 187) visa
• Skilled Independent (permanent)(subclass 189) visa
• Distinguished Talent (permanent)(subclass 858) visa.