Australia Introduces New Instrument for Maritime Crew Visa Applications

What changed

The U.S. Department of Labour has issued a final rule. This rule cancels 29 CFR Part 42. Part 42 used to make formal procedures mandatory for agencies to coordinate enforcement efforts regarding migrant and seasonal farmworkers. This change takes effect from 30 September 2026. It aims to make operations more efficient by removing old rules. These old rules no longer match how the Department is organised or how it works. The Department says this change will make its enforcement strategy fit better with modern, flexible, and effective ways of coordinating that it already uses.

What changed

The Australian Department of Home Affairs has reissued an official rule, the 'Migration (Visas that Preclude a Person from Lodging a Student Visa Application in Australia) Instrument 2026'. This rule keeps the existing policy about which types of visas stop a person from applying for a Student visa while they are in Australia. This helps to keep the student visa programme fair and continues to be based on the authority of the Migration Regulations 1994.

What changed

The Australian Department of Home Affairs has enacted the Migration (Complying Entrepreneur Activity—Funding Entities) Instrument 2026, which specifies new entities for the complying entrepreneur activity under the Migration Regulations 1994. This instrument repeals the earlier Specification of Entities 2016/074, impacting individuals seeking to meet entrepreneur visa requirements in Australia.

What changed

Australia has made a new migration instrument defining the activities that cannot qualify as a complying entrepreneur activity for the purposes of the Migration Regulations 1994. The Migration (Complying Entrepreneur Activity—Excluded Activities) Instrument 2026, identified as LIN 26/056 and registered as F2026L01259, was made by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship on 18 September 2026 and registered on 24 September 2026. The instrument commences on 25 September 2026, one day after registration. The instrument operates under paragraph 5.19E(6)(a) of the Migration Regulations 1994. Regulation 5.19E establishes the meaning of a complying entrepreneur activity and requires the activity to relate to an innovative idea that is proposed to lead to the commercialisation of a product or service in Australia or the development of an enterprise or business in Australia. It also provides that the activity must not be an activity specified by the Minister as excluded.