Most international students will now face a 12-month transfer restriction, but the change comes with an unexpected sting for some students already studying in Australia.
Australia has tightened the rules governing international student transfers, with most students outside the school sector now required to complete 12 months of their principal course before another provider can enrol them.
The change is temporary and starts tomorrow (2 October, 2026). From 1 July 2027, the restriction will return to six months.
But there is a catch that could affect students who are already studying in Australia.
According to the Explanatory Statement accompanying the legislative instrument, students who have completed more than six months but less than 12 months of their principal course when the new rules commence can become subject to the transfer restriction again.
That means a student who had already passed the previous six-month threshold could find themselves unable to transfer without a release from their current provider.
The Explanatory Statement gives this exact scenario as an example. A student who had commenced their principal course more than six months, but less than 12 months, before the amendment starts may have been free to transfer immediately beforehand, but becomes subject to the new 12-month restriction once the amendment commences. They remain restricted until they have completed a total of at least 12 months of their principal course.
That is arguably the most significant practical detail in the change.
Twelve months, but only for now
The amended Standard 7.1 says that, until 30 June 2027, a registered provider generally cannot knowingly enrol an international student transferring from another registered provider unless the student has completed at least 12 months of their principal course with the releasing provider.
From 1 July 2027, the restriction returns to six months.
The rule does not change for students transferring from an approved school provider. The six-month restriction for the school sector remains in place.
The amendment commences the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation, which was 1 October, 2026.
Why has the Government done it?
The answer is contained in the Explanatory Statement.
The Government says the temporary extension is designed to support broader migration reforms aimed at strengthening the integrity of the student visa program.
The Explanatory Statement specifically links the change to migration reforms announced by Immigration Minister Tony Burke on 17 September 2026. Those reforms are expected to introduce a stronger requirement for international students to obtain a new student visa before transferring their studies to another education provider, with those changes intended to take effect in mid-2027.
The 12-month transfer restriction is therefore described by the Government as a temporary transition measure ahead of those changes.
The Explanatory Statement says the extension is intended to mitigate what the Government describes as known integrity and student welfare risks associated with rushed or non-genuine transfers.
It specifically identifies the potential exploitation of students by unscrupulous or non-genuine receiving providers as one of those risks.
In other words, the Government’s argument is that making students stay with their original provider for longer will reduce the opportunity for questionable providers or recruitment practices to encourage students to move shortly after arriving in Australia.
Transfers have not been banned
The new rules do not mean students are trapped with their provider.
There are circumstances in which a student can still transfer during the restriction period.
Under the amended Standard 7, these include where:
- the releasing provider or the student’s course has ceased to be registered
- the releasing provider has received a sanction that prevents the student continuing their course
- the releasing provider agrees to the transfer and records the release in PRISMS
- a government sponsor considers the transfer to be in the student’s best interests and provides written support.
The Explanatory Statement makes clear that the existing provider must continue to have regard to its internal transfer policies and its broader obligations under Standard 7 when considering a release.
So the new regime is not simply “no transfers for 12 months”. It is more accurately no transfer without satisfying the new time requirement or one of the specified exceptions.
A new complication for students already here
The transitional effect deserves attention.
Under the previous rules, a student who had completed six months of their principal course was no longer subject to the general transfer restriction.
The new rules temporarily move that threshold to 12 months.
The Explanatory Statement explicitly acknowledges that this can mean a student who had already passed six months can become restricted again when the amendment commences.
There is, however, an end date.
Students who have completed between six and 12 months will no longer be restricted once the rules revert to six months on 1 July 2027.
Students who had already completed 12 months of their principal course before the amendment commences are not affected by the new restriction because they have already satisfied the 12-month requirement.
What happens if a student really needs to leave?
The Explanatory Statement says the temporary restriction will not prevent genuine transfers where they are required.
It also notes that students who want to transfer during the restriction period have the option of leaving Australia and applying for a new student visa from offshore.
That will be an important point for students and advisers.
The policy is not intended to eliminate transfers. Rather, it makes an onshore transfer more difficult during the temporary 12-month period, while preserving specific pathways for transfers considered necessary or in a student’s interests.
Providers that recruit transfer students will feel it too
The Government also acknowledges that the change will have an impact on providers.
The Explanatory Statement says providers that primarily recruit international students transferring from other providers may experience a temporary delay in their recruitment pipeline.
That is worth noting because the transfer market has become a significant part of the onshore international student recruitment landscape.
The amendment effectively removes a pool of students from that market until they have completed the required period, unless a release or another exception applies.
The sector has asked for this before
The Government’s Explanatory Statement also points out that the idea of extending the transfer restriction to 12 months is not new.
During the 2022 ESOS Review, stakeholders advocated extending the restriction to 12 months, with concerns including visa integrity and the poaching of students by other providers and education agents once students were onshore.
Similar arguments were raised in submissions to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the Education Services for Overseas Students (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024.
The Department of Education also says it consulted with TEQSA, ASQA, the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations before making the amendment. According to the Explanatory Statement, all four agencies indicated they had no operational concerns and considered the extension a reasonable short-term mechanism to complement the upcoming visa changes.
The bigger picture
The timing is difficult to ignore.
Australia is moving towards a system in which changing providers will be more closely connected to the student visa system itself.
The 12-month National Code restriction is described by the Government as a temporary bridge to those broader migration reforms.
For students, that means less flexibility to change providers during their first year.
For providers, particularly those reliant on onshore transfers, it means a smaller and more constrained recruitment pool.
For the sector, it represents another shift towards making the integrity of the student visa system a central consideration in how international education operates.
And there is a rather important date already sitting on the horizon.
1 July 2027.
That is when the 12-month restriction is scheduled to disappear and the six-month rule returns.
Unless, of course, the next round of migration and international education reforms changes the rules again before then.
The instrument and explanatory statement (dropdown) can be viewed here.
