Agencies | Canberra:
Australia will expand efforts to detain and remove people who remain in the country after their visas expire, as part of a broader overhaul of the migration system announced by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.
The Australian Border Force will add 100 compliance officers and the government will create 250 additional detention beds to increase its capacity to deal with visa overstayers. Authorities are also examining whether a former quarantine facility in Melbourne could be repurposed for detention purposes.
Burke said the measures were intended to restore consequences for people who remain in Australia after their visas have expired. He said the government was returning to an approach used before 2015, when visa overstayers could be detained and encouraged to arrange their own departure.
The minister stressed that the planned enforcement would not resemble the type of immigration operations associated with the United States.
“This is not the sort of operation that some people have seen on TV happening in other countries,” Burke said in his National Press Club address.
There are currently around 77,000 people in Australia without a valid visa, according to government figures cited in recent reporting. The number has risen from about 64,000 in 2016.
The government is also moving to restrict what it describes as “visa hopping”, where temporary visa holders move between different visa categories to extend their stay.
Visitor visas are expected to generally carry a “No Further Stay” condition, preventing people who arrive as tourists from applying onshore for another visa in circumstances covered by the condition.
The government also plans to tighten rules for international students seeking to move between courses and institutions. Burke said the system should support students who progress through legitimate qualifications and move into skilled employment, rather than allowing repeated course changes primarily to extend their stay.
Separate legislative changes may also be required to address what Burke described as “non-meritorious” or “disingenuous” protection claims used to prolong stays in Australia.
The proposed measures have drawn criticism from rights advocates, who have raised concerns about the expansion of immigration detention.
The Human Rights Law Centre warned that stronger enforcement could discourage undocumented workers who face exploitation from reporting abuse to authorities.
The Australian Greens have also criticised the expansion of detention capacity and compared the measures with tougher immigration enforcement in the United States. Burke has rejected that comparison, saying the government’s approach is intended to restore Australia’s previous compliance system rather than replicate US-style enforcement.
The crackdown forms part of a wider effort by the Australian government to bring down net overseas migration.
Net overseas migration fell to 292,100 in the year to March 2026, while the government has set migration forecasts of 245,000 for the current financial year and 225,000 for 2027–28.
Burke has said the government wants greater control over temporary migration while continuing to attract international students and skilled workers who contribute to Australia’s economy.
The latest measures therefore target several parts of the temporary migration system, including visa overstayers, visitor visas, international education and protection claims.
