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Studying in Australia as a couple? The UK's 2024 dependants rule is now part of the 485 visa debate

Visa guide · 2026-08-19 · 4 min read

If you and your partner are thinking about one of you studying in Australia, with the other working alongside, you are looking at a set-up that is now under scrutiny. The focus is the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485), which lets international graduates stay and work after their course. It has become one of the fastest-growing visa types in the country, and the argument now is about who is actually inside those numbers.

For readers in the UK there is a twist: the change some people want Australia to copy is one Britain has already made.

Who holds the 485 today

The visa is meant to bridge the gap between finishing a degree and starting skilled work. Yet a large and rising share of holders are not graduates. They are partners, spouses and children included on the application as secondary applicants.

One higher education researcher has found that roughly one in five 485 holders are in this group. Among graduates from countries such as India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, the figure is nearer one in three. The researcher argues the pattern looks deliberate: the family comes in as dependants, starts working straight away and uses the graduate visa years as a route towards permanent residence.

Later estimates go further, putting secondary applicants at close to 27% of all current holders, with secondary numbers up by well over 200% since 2022. That is faster growth than among the graduates themselves.

Why partners' work rights are the sticking point

Under the current rules, a partner on a 485 has the same work rights as the graduate: no cap on hours, no link to any field of study and no labour market test. The contrast is sharper on the student visa. During semester the student is limited to 48 hours a fortnight, while their partner can work unlimited hours.

Critics say this means one graduate visa can place two full-time workers into the labour market, only one of whom has been through the study and skills route the visa is built around. There are 271,000 current 485 holders, which is why the issue has drawn attention.

The UK already went down this road

In January 2024 the United Kingdom stopped most international undergraduate students from bringing dependants, because the option was being used as a way round the rules rather than simply to keep families together. Australia has made no similar change, even though its own figures are now bigger than the ones that prompted Britain to act.

The government's Study Australia platform still promotes family as part of the appeal, inviting partners and children to experience Australian life alongside the student.

What reformers are proposing

These are proposals, not rules. Those pushing for change suggest:

• ending automatic dependant rights for undergraduate students, along the lines of the UK approach
• limiting the 485 to graduates who hold a relevant job offer, rather than the near-automatic eligibility now open to anyone under 35 who completes a two-year course
• linking a partner's work rights to the skill level of the main applicant's visa

The case for the second point leans on the government's own 2023 Migration Review, which found that more than half of bachelor's graduates were still in low-skilled jobs three or more years after finishing. Around 800,000 people are in Australia on student and graduate visas combined, so even small changes to family rules could shift the totals noticeably.

What this means if you are planning from the UK

Nothing has changed yet, but a plan that depends on a partner working freely on the back of a study or graduate visa carries more risk than it did. If you are weighing it up, check the current conditions on the official visa listing before you commit to a course, and think about whether a skilled work visa for one of you might suit better.

Our earlier pieces on bringing family on a student visa and how new student rules could affect your family's plans go into more detail. If a job-first route looks better, browse the latest jobs in Australia.

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