‘Temporary-Visa Crackdown’ sees higher refusal rates and stricter checks across five visa classes

Migration advisory firm Work Visa Lawyers reports a sharp rise in document requests, telephone interviews and outright refusals for Partner, Student (subclass 500), Temporary Graduate 485, Training 407 and Visitor 600 visas since March 2026. Although Home Affairs denies any formal ‘crackdown’, practitioners say new risk-profiling algorithms and fee hikes are clearly biting. Under changes quietly introduced on 1 March, the 485 Graduate visa fee doubled to AUD 4,600 to fund 500 additional case officers.



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At the same time, nominations for Training 407 visas must now be approved before the visa can be lodged—creating timing traps for applicants whose current status is expiring. Partner-visa couples, meanwhile, are reporting unsolicited phone calls in which both partners are questioned separately to verify relationship evidence. Work Visa Lawyers’ analysis of 300 recent files shows refusal rates for offshore Visitor 600 applications up from 8 % in 2025 to 17 % in May 2026; most were rejected for ‘insufficient ties’. Student-visa case officers are demanding detailed statements of course relevance and future career plans to satisfy the updated Genuine Student requirement under Ministerial Direction 115. For employers, the crackdown is delaying on-boarding of graduate hires who planned to move from student to post-study work rights. HR teams are being advised to lodge nominations earlier and budget for higher government charges. Couples should prepare comprehensive evidence packages, and international students should expect longer processing times unless documentation is watertight. Migration agents predict that policy pressure will ease after 1 July, when the 2026–27 permanent-migration program opens and more places become available. Until then, businesses may need contingency plans, including bridging visas or short-term labour-hire solutions, to cover critical roles.