No longer have a valid visa, you should leave-Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke

CANBERRA — Australia is reviving pre-2015 hardline enforcement measures to detain and deport tens of thousands of undocumented non-citizens as part of a sweeping migration overhaul.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced the crackdown at the National Press Club in Canberra, unveiling a strategy aimed at locating the estimated 77,000 people currently living in Australia without a valid visa.

Under the new regime, the Australian Border Force will deploy 100 additional compliance officers tasked specifically with tracking down overstayers. To accommodate detainees awaiting deportation, authorities are adding 250 detention beds and evaluating whether a former COVID-19 quarantine center in Melbourne can be repurposed into a secure immigration detention facility.

"If you want to come on a temporary basis to Australia, apply for a temporary visa," Burke said. "If you want to come to Australia permanently, apply for a permanent visa. And if you no longer have a valid visa, you should leave Australia."

Burke said the government is restoring a routine protocol where visa overstayers are taken directly into detention until they arrange their departure flights, replacing softer voluntary-return mechanisms.

Beyond direct enforcement against overstayers, the government is shutting down common onshore pathways foreigners use to extend their stay indefinitely:

• Universal "No Further Stay" Conditions: All future standard tourist and visitor visas will automatically include restrictions barring holders from applying for another visa—such as student or partner visas—while inside the country.
• Curbing "Visa Hopping": International students will no longer be permitted to extend stays by moving sideways into equivalent- or lower-level courses; visa extensions will generally require moving up the academic qualification scale.
• Family Restrictions: Most international students and graduate visa holders will be barred from bringing accompanying family members, closing another major conduit for temporary population growth.
• Working Holiday Ballots: Second- and third-year working holiday visas will transition to a quota-limited ballot system.

The measures have triggered sharp pushback from human rights advocates and legal bodies, who warn that punitive detentions could deter exploited undocumented workers from reporting mistreatment. The tourism sector has also voiced concerns over the potential damage to Australia's global image.

The government maintains the measures are essential to ease domestic housing pressures and bring net overseas migration down to sustainable pre-pandemic levels.