A limited onshore option for subclass 407 applicants
The Migration Amendment (Training Visas—Application Requirements) Regulations 2026 change where some Training visa (subclass 407) applicants may be when they apply and when a visa is granted. The default remains that an applicant must be outside Australia. An exception applies to a person in a class specified by the Minister in a legislative instrument.
A person covered by that exception may apply from inside or outside Australia, but must not be in immigration clearance at the time of application. The amended grant rule also allows the person to be in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance, when the visa is granted.
The class must apply at the time of application
The grant provision links the location permitted at grant to the applicant’s status when they applied. To be granted the visa while in Australia under the exception, the applicant must have been in a class specified in the relevant Ministerial instrument at the time of application.
The regulations do not set out which classes are specified; they refer to an instrument made under subregulation 2.07(5).
The exception is therefore not a general change allowing all subclass 407 applicants to apply or be granted a visa onshore. Applicants outside a specified class remain subject to the default requirement to be outside Australia at application and grant.
The restriction against being in immigration clearance applies to the alternative location rule at both stages.
Applications from 12 November 2026
The instrument commences on 12 November 2026. Its transitional provision says the amendments apply in relation to a visa application made on or after that date. The relevant dividing point is the application date, rather than the date the regulations were published or the date a decision is made.
The instrument was made on 29 October 2026 and registered on 30 October 2026. Applications made before 12 November are not brought within the amendments by the transitional provision. The text does not specify a separate application fee or any other change to subclass 407 requirements.
What applicants may need to check
For a person considering an application on or after 12 November, the key issue under these amendments is whether they fall within a class specified by the Minister in the legislative instrument. The regulations themselves do not name those classes, so the amendment alone does not establish that a particular applicant can use the onshore option.
Applicants should also distinguish the application-stage rule from the grant-stage rule: the class condition is assessed by reference to the time of application, while the grant provision permits the person to be in Australia only if that condition was met and they are not in immigration clearance. The regulations make no broader statement about individual circumstances or whether a person meets other visa requirements.
Official source
Federal Register of Legislation
Read the official publication
Disclaimer
General information only — not legal advice.