September 17 2026:
‘No Further Stay’ on visitor visas
In his National Press Club address on Citizenship Day, 17 September 2026, the Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, announced that a ‘no further stay’ provision will be attached to visitor visas.
What is no further stay?
‘No further stay’ provisions are not unique to the migration program. It is currently implemented through Condition 8503. If Condition 8503 is imposed on the visa you hold, you cannot make a valid application for a further substantive visa while in Australia (other than a protection visa), unless the condition is waived first. Currently 8503 currently is only mandatory in the Approved Destination and Sponsored Family streams of the Subclass 600 Visitor visa. In the Tourist and Business Visitor streams, it is a discretionary condition.
Included in the Visitor Visa program are the following visas:
| Visa | Condition 8503 today |
|---|---|
| Visitor Visa (subclass 600) (Sponsored Family Stream) | Mandatory condition |
| Visitor Visa (subclass 600) (Tourist stream, where sponsorship required & approved) | Mandatory condition |
| Visitor Visa (subclass 600) (Approved Destination Stream) | Mandatory condition |
| Visitor Visa (subclass 600) (Frequent Traveller Stream) | Mandatory condition |
| Visitor Visa (subclass 600) (Tourist Stream) | Discretionary condition |
| Visitor Visa (subclass 600) (Business Visitor Stream) | Discretionary condition |
| Electronic Travel Authority (subclass 601 – ETA) | – |
| eVisitor (subclass 651) | – |
The Minister spoke of “visitor visas” generally. We read that as signalling that no further stay will apply across the visitor visa program, rather than only in selected streams or at the decision-maker’s discretion. He did not say so expressly, and there is no confirmation yet on whether the ETA and eVisitor will be caught.
The Minister said the change is about future visas and will have no impact on currently held visas. The Minister importantly did not give a start date for these impactful changes.
Why is the Government doing this?
The Minister described a “double standard”. A citizen who applies for an overseas partner to join them can wait quite some years. But where someone does not tell the Department their partner is from overseas and the partner simply applies for a visitor visa, the partner has been able to apply onshore after arriving and stay in Australia with their partner on a bridging visa.
He said the Department must apply the genuine temporary purpose test to visitor visas, and that this pathway has stopped some genuine visits from being approved. The Government’s stated aim is to allow more of those visas, for events such as weddings and visits to aged relatives.
Although the Minister used partner applications as his example, we expect the effect to be much wider, across many groups of visitors who would otherwise apply onshore after arrival.
Can condition 8503 be waived?
Yes, but the power is discretionary and the bar is high. The main ground is that compelling and compassionate circumstances have developed since the visa was granted, were outside your control, and caused a major change in your circumstances. The request must be in writing. If an earlier request was refused, the new circumstances must be substantially different. A separate ground applies where the holder genuinely intends to apply for certain skilled visas. An application lodged without a waiver is invalid, so the waiver must be obtained first.
Our migration team is available to support you. Contact MB Lawyers Immigration to discuss your circumstances.
This is general information about a change to visa processing priorities. It is not legal advice and does not take your circumstances into account. Please get in touch for advice on your own matter.
Current as at 17 September 2026
