Studying in Australia with your family? Why you should read this first

Visa guide · 2026-09-25 · 3 min read

Many students want to study in Australia and bring a husband, wife or child. The rules are now becoming stricter. This article explains what has been announced, what is still not clear and how to plan with care.

The new limit

Australia is making its temporary migration rules tighter. Under the new rules, most international students will not be able to bring family members. A dependant is a family member who comes with the main visa holder.

Only a few groups are exempt:

PhD candidates
Students from Pacific and ASEAN nations
Students sponsored by DFAT or Defence
People with foreign government scholarships

Vietnam is a member of ASEAN. This is a point to look at closely. Please do not guess. Check the final rules for your own case.

A rule that is easy to miss

Even for exempt groups, there is another limit. Family members will not be able to apply later for a Student or Temporary Graduate visa as a secondary applicant if the main applicant already holds their visa. So the path is not only closed at the start. It also stays closed later. This applies whether the family is in Australia or outside Australia.

People already in Australia should not need to leave. Officials have confirmed grandfathering. This means current cases are protected so that families are not separated. But the government has not yet given a start date or full details. Please treat the exemptions as narrow. They may also change.

Why the change?

This is one part of a bigger plan. The aim is to bring net overseas migration down to 245,000 for 2026/27 and 225,000 the year after. A reported 47% drop from the pandemic peak is part of the story. Leaders also talk about visa hopping, which means moving from one temporary visa to another. At the same time, they say a student who moves to a graduate visa and later to permanent residence is the system working as planned.

There is one more problem. The student intake target stays at 295,000 for 2027, yet the overall plan is to reduce migration. These two goals pull in different directions. Visa refusal rates have gone up sharply since late 2025. They may be one way the numbers are being controlled.

What you can do

Do not assume your family can join later. The secondary-applicant limit may close that route.
Prepare a strong application. Refusals have risen, so every document matters.
Choose your course carefully. One idea is a public list of priority qualifications and jobs, updated each year. If it happens, it could show which courses lead to a real path after study.

Prepare your documents early

Certified English translations of your Vietnamese certificates and records.
A police certificate if one is requested. For Vietnamese citizens this is usually the Judicial Record Certificate No. 2 (Phiếu lý lịch tư pháp số 2).
An English test result, such as IELTS or PTE, if your visa or school needs one.

You can read current rules on the official Home Affairs website.

Stay safe

Use only licensed organisations and real schools or employers. Never pay an unlicensed broker. Be careful with anyone who asks for money upfront to secure a visa or a place.

The system is changing, and more detail is still to come. Stay flexible, keep learning and make a backup plan.

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