Important Change To the Training Visa (subclass 407)

‍Recent Changes

As part of the Government’s commitment to reduce ‘permanent temporariness’, the Subclass 407 program has been modified to ensure that it supports genuine skill development as intended.  

From 11 March 2026, in addition to other validity requirements, all new applicants for a Training visa will need to wait for the employer’s Temporary Activities Sponsorship application and the associated Nomination to be approved (unless the sponsor is a Commonwealth agency) before the applicant can validly lodge their 407-visa applications.

The key change is that applicants can no longer lodge all stages at once. The Department of Home Affairs has confirmed that:

‘Any Training Visa applications submitted after 11 March 2026 will be considered invalid if the sponsorship and nomination have not been approved at the time of lodgement.’

This represents a significant procedural change and employers and applicants should allow additional time in their planning to accommodate the sequential approval process.

Training Visa Statistics

This change follows a significant surge in Training Visa lodgements nationwide over the past years. Applications lodged between 1 July 2024 and 28 February 2025 (representing a partial year of the 2024–25 financial year) had already increased by more than 200 per cent compared with the entire 2023–24 financial year.

The upward trend has been broad‑based across most states and territories. Over the same period, nomination applications increased by more than 440 per cent in South Australia, over 340 per cent in Tasmania, approximately 190 per cent in the Australian Capital Territory, 94 per cent in Queensland, around 69 per cent in Victoria, 41 per cent in Western Australia, 29 per cent in the Northern Territory, and 19 per cent in New South Wales.

As at 28 February 2025, there were 7,832 Training visa nomination applications pending nationally, with almost one‑third in the occupation of Chef. While nationwide approval data is limited, South Australia is indicative, with only a negligible number of Chef nominations approved since 2019, suggesting a potentially very high refusal rate in this occupation. This underscores longstanding program integrity concerns and highlights the rationale for the recent scheme changes.

Implications for Applicants

This update heavily restricts last‑minute onshore applications, particularly those lodged to obtain a bridging visa that allows applicants to remain lawfully in Australia while a Training Visa application is being processed. The change requires both employers and onshore applicants to plan well in advance. Therefore, applicants who now wish to apply for the Training Visa must ensure that they hold a valid visa while they wait for the Department to process the Temporary Activity Sponsorship and Training Visa Nomination.  

If you believe you may be eligible for the Training Visa, we encourage you to reach out to us via our website.