Student visa cancellation for course progress and attendance

A student visa holder can face a section 116 cancellation notice for breaching a visa condition, such as satisfactory course progress or attendance, or for work over the limit. The conditions and the process are described in general terms below.

The short answer

Student visas carry conditions, and breaching a condition is a ground for cancellation under section 116(1)(b) of the Migration Act. Condition 8202 deals with enrolment, course progress and attendance. Condition 8105 limits work. There is also a ground specific to student visas: that the holder is not, or is likely not to be, a genuine student, or has engaged in conduct not contemplated by the visa.

Home Affairs says cancellation is not automatic. Before cancelling under section 116, the Minister must give written notice of the grounds and invite a response. See section 116 cancellation explained.

Condition 8202: enrolment, progress and attendance

Condition 8202 requires the holder to remain enrolled full time in a registered course and to ensure that the education provider has not certified the holder as failing to achieve satisfactory course progress or satisfactory course attendance. Those standards come from the Education Services for Overseas Students Act and the National Code, not from Home Affairs.

Condition 8105: the work limit

The work limit for student visas is condition 8105, not 8201. For a Subclass 500 (Student) visa the limit is read as 48 hours a fortnight while the course is in session. A fortnight is 14 days starting on a Monday. Condition 8105 also restricts work before the course starts, subject to exceptions in the condition. Condition 8201 is a different condition: a 3 month study limit that appears on visitor-type visas, and it is not a student visa work or attendance condition.

Workplace exploitation certificates

For most temporary visas, regulations 2.43A and 2.43B require the decision-maker to consider certain workplace exploitation matters before cancelling for a condition breach. In some circumstances a work-condition breach cannot be used as the basis for cancellation. Whether those rules touch a particular case is a legal question for an adviser.

The notice, the window and review

A notice under section 119 must give particulars of the grounds and invite a response within a specified time. For written comments from a person in Australia, the regulations set that period at 5 working days, starting when the person is notified, and the decision-maker may extend it by a further 5 working days. The notice states the actual deadline. See the notice of intention to consider cancellation guide.

If a student visa is cancelled, review by the Administrative Review Tribunal may be available, with a time limit of 28 days from notification, or 14 days in immigration detention, which the ART says it cannot extend. See which visa refusals can the ART review. Since 1 June 2026 most reviews of student visa refusals are decided on the papers. That rule covers refusals, not cancellations, and is explained in student visa refusal review on the papers.

Consequences for future applications

Home Affairs lists cancellation for a visa condition breach, or for no longer meeting the Genuine Student requirement, among the triggers for a re-entry ban. It says an exclusion period may last up to 3 years, although some people can be permanently excluded. Separately, public interest criterion 4013, for visas that include it, can require a new application to be made more than 3 years after certain cancellations, unless the Minister is satisfied of compelling or compassionate circumstances. The listed cancellations include those on the student ground in section 116(1)(fa) and some condition breaches. How these rules apply, and whether a ban can be waived, depends on the individual visa and history.

Next step

The response window on a student cancellation notice may be only days, and the notice itself sets the date. A registered migration agent, an Australian lawyer or a free legal service can read the notice with you. What is written here is a general summary of the law, not legal advice or immigration assistance.