Most new international students can no longer bring their families. What could Australia lose?
In today’s post, Associate Professor Andrew Clarke from University of Melbourne, and Dr Rennie Lee from The University of Queensland and the Life Course Centre, explain why shutting the door on accompanying partners for some international students could hurt Australia.
International education is one of Australia’s major economic strengths, ranking as the country’s fourth largest export in 2024–25, worth $53.6 billion. However, the contributions of our international students extend beyond tuition fees and spending while they study. Some remain after graduating and become skilled workers, researchers, entrepreneurs and long-term members of Australian communities.
Yet, under new government rules, many may re-evaluate applying for a student visa because they will no longer be able to include spouses, de facto partners, or dependent children. Preventing international students from bringing their families could be considered short-sighted and may hurt Australia over the longer term. Although the restrictions may lower net overseas migration, they could also mean forgoing productive workers, dividing families, and discouraging prospective international students from choosing Australia as a place to study.
What has changed?
Since 2 October, most Student visa applicants have been unable to include partners or dependent children in their applications. Exemptions apply to PhD students, some government-sponsored students and eligible Pacific and ASEAN students. Applications lodged before 2 October, including those that included family members, will continue to be assessed under the rules that applied at the time. However, for most current Student visa holders, it is no longer possible to add family members after a visa has been granted.
The restrictions may not stop with Student visas. The government is also considering restrictions on accompanying family members for Temporary Graduate visas. These visas allow eligible international graduates to stay in Australia to live and work after completing their studies. About one fifth of Temporary Graduate visa holders became permanent skilled migrants, indicating the contribution of Temporary Graduate visas as a crucial pipeline to Australia’s skilled workforce. Unlike the Student visa changes, which are already in force, these measures for Temporary Graduate Visas have not yet been implemented.
Accompanying partners on a visa contribute to Australia’s community and economy
Accompanying partners are commonly described as “dependants”. This administrative label can be misleading - creating an impression that they are economically dependent, poorly educated or unlikely to work. The accompanying spouse or partner on a visa application could bring valuable skills of their own and contribute to Australian communities and the economy.
While our research did not specifically examine student or graduate visa holders, it did look at couples admitted through Australia’s permanent skilled migration program, which showed that accompanying partners were educated and contributed to Australia’s economy.
We found that decisions about who leads and who is an accompanying partner in a skilled-migration application are shaped by both immigration rules and gender roles within households. A person may become the secondary applicant because their partner’s occupation provides the clearest migration pathway, because the visa system rewards particular qualifications. Alternatively, it could also be because gender roles influence whose career takes priority.
While our research examines immigrant couples rather than those on student visas, it does demonstrate why accompanying partners should not be viewed as possessing limited economic potential. In fact, many of the accompanying partners in our study were university-educated. Among women who migrated as accompanying partners, 91 per cent were employed. However, their qualifications were not always well matched to their occupations, which suggests that they are underutilised rather than an unskilled resource.
This is consistent with international research showing that family-based migration can also bring substantial human capital. Highly educated migrants often have highly educated partners and other family members, so by excluding accompanying partners, the new restrictions risk Australia missing out on future skilled and productive workers.
Why this hurts Australia
The new policy’s immediate effects are likely to be smaller than its longer-term consequences. Student visa applications lodged before 2 October remain subject to the previous rules, while family members already holding Student visas as secondary applicants retain their current visas.
This new policy could be self-defeating. International graduates with Australian qualifications, local work experience, English proficiency, and employer connections are often precisely the candidates Australia seeks to retain through skilled permanent migration. Not every graduate will qualify, nor should permanent residence be automatic. But restricting family accompaniment may cause promising graduates to either choose another country to pursue their studies or leave Australia before the skilled-migration system can assess their potential. In effect, Australia risks losing desirable future permanent residents because of their family circumstances rather than their skills.
Research on migration decisions shows that family considerations, alongside employment opportunities, influence where skilled migrants choose to settle. Australia may lose more than the accompanying family members. It may also lose potential immigrants who could otherwise become skilled graduates, researchers, entrepreneurs and permanent members of the workforce - reducing future labour supply, human capital, and education-export income.
Content moderator: Life Course Centre