The Coalition’s migration policy, announced on 6 October, proposes a sharp reduction in Australia’s international student intake, alongside the abolition of the Temporary Graduate visa for most international graduates.
The Coalition would cap international student commencements at 240,000 a year, almost half the 479,104 international student commencements recorded in Australia in 2025.
It would also scrap temporary graduate visas for most international graduates, with exceptions for PhD graduates, graduates in health and education, and students who study at regional universities. In the first six months of 2025–26, 60,833 Temporary Graduate visas were granted, up 37.7% on the same period a year earlier.
This would be a major shift for a visa that has been part of Australia’s international education and migration system for almost two decades.
The changing role of the 485 visa
The subclass 485 visa was introduced in 2007 as the Skilled Graduate visa. It was initially designed to give international graduates time to gain work experience in Australia and pursue skilled migration opportunities.
The visa was significantly reshaped following the 2011 Knight Review of the Student Visa Program. The review identified post-study work rights as an important concern for international students and noted that competing study destinations were offering similar opportunities. It recommended a new post-study work arrangement for graduates of Australian higher education.
On 23 March 2013, the Skilled Graduate visa was renamed the Temporary Graduate visa, and the Post-Study Work stream was introduced. The visa also moved from the Skilled Migration Programme into the Student Visa Programme.
The visa has continued to evolve. From 1 July 2024, the Graduate Work stream became the Post-Vocational Education Work stream, while the Post-Study Work stream became the Post-Higher Education Work stream. The maximum age for most applicants was also reduced from 50 to 35. These changes followed the Migration Strategy.
The 485 continues to give eligible international graduates time to live and work in Australia after completing their studies, but its design has increasingly reflected broader policy priorities around skills, workforce needs and migration.
The bridge between study and work
Our research suggests that post-study work is critical to Australia’s attractiveness as a study destination. In a joint Deakin University and Adelaide University study, 76 per cent of international graduates surveyed said access to the Temporary Graduate visa was an important factor in their decision to study in Australia.
But the value of the 485 cannot be measured only by how many graduates use it to remain in Australia.
The visa gives graduates time to gain work experience, develop their employability, build professional networks, improve their English and get a return on investment. These benefits matter even for graduates who do not ultimately seek permanent migration.
Our research found that many graduates do not necessarily move directly from study to permanent residency. We describe this as a shift from the education-migration nexus to the education-work-migration nexus, in which work sits between education and different possible futures. A graduate may build a career in Australia, pursue a skilled migration pathway, or return home with an Australian qualification and international work experience.
This is also why the 485 should not be described simply as an automatic pathway to permanent residency. It never was one. Temporary graduate visas can provide a pathway to permanent residency, but it is neither automatic nor easy. Graduates still face significant barriers in the labour market, including employers’ lack of understanding and concerns about their temporary visa status.
International graduates are also part of the skills shortage solution
There is another important dimension. International students sit at the intersection of skills production and skills attraction. Australia educates them and some may then contribute those skills to the Australian workforce.
This matters in a country facing persistent skills shortages. International graduates already have an Australian qualification and experience studying and living in Australia. Most also have multilingual capabilities, international networks and an understanding of both Australian and overseas contexts. These capabilities can be valuable in a labour market that needs skilled workers.
The Temporary Graduate visa therefore provides an important bridge between education and employment.
Yet this education-work-migration nexus is shaped by changing political and economic priorities. Australia has repeatedly changed the rules around international education, post-study work and migration in response to skills needs, migration pressures and political priorities.
International students are more than a migration number
The relationship is also complicated by the fact that policies at this nexus are often politically charged, uncertain and constantly changing. International students are increasingly treated not simply as people who study in Australia, but as numbers within the migration ledger. This can contribute to a public narrative in which they are seen as a problem to be managed rather than people making educational, economic and social contributions.
Abolishing the 485 for most graduates would therefore do more than close a migration pathway, as the Coalition indicated. It would also change the value proposition of Australian international education. Students deciding where to study overseas consider what they can do with their qualifications after graduation. Post-study work is one part of that calculation.
This does not mean every international student comes to Australia intending to migrate permanently. Our research shows a much more complex picture. Students seek education, capability building, work experience, employability and future opportunities. Migration may be one possible outcome, but it is not the only one.
Framing international students primarily through migration can therefore obscure their broader contribution. International students contribute to universities and the wider economy through education, accommodation, tourism, retail and other forms of spending. They also contribute to Australian society as students, graduates, workers and members of local communities.
If Australia wants international education to contribute to skills development and the workforce, post-study work visas provide an important bridge between Australian education and the labour market. Removing that bridge may reduce the number of graduates who remain in Australia, but it could also mean Australia misses an opportunity to benefit from skills and capabilities developed through its education system.
The Coalition’s proposal is therefore about more than the 485 visa itself. It raises a broader question about the place of international students in Australia: are they primarily temporary migrants to be managed, or are they also students, skilled graduates, future workers and members of a global community connected to Australia?
Ly Tran is a Professor in the School of Education at Deakin University
