Changes made to Training (subclass 407) Visa application

The Australian Government has updated Training (subclass 407) Visa application requirements to reduce “permanent temporariness“.

The Department of Home Affairs has advised that, from 11 March 2026, in addition to other validity requirements, all new applicants for a Training Visa need to wait for the following before they can make a valid Training Visa application:

• their sponsor must be approved as a temporary activities sponsor, and
• their sponsor must have an approved Training visa nomination for them, unless the sponsor is a Commonwealth agency.

Previously it was possible to validly lodge the visa application at the same time as the sponsorship and Training Visa nomination application. Sponsors should now lodge the sponsorship and nomination applications well before the proposed training start date.

Applicants in Australia must ensure that they hold a valid visa while they wait for the department to process the sponsorship and Training Visa nomination. Applicants will only be able to get a Bridging visa for their Training Visa application once they lodge a valid Training visa application.

Prioritisation within Sponsorships and Nominations for subclass 407

The department has provided the following information regarding prioritisation for distribution to the legal profession.

There has been high growth of lodgements for the subclass 407 visa over the past two years, and the refusal rate has increased.

There were 21,407 visa applications lodged in 2024-25. This is 183.1 per cent higher than the 7563 applications lodged in 2023-24. The refusal rate in in 2025-26 to 31 December 2026 was 40.9 per cent. Refusal rates over the same period in 2023-24 were 6.3 per cent.

To manage the ongoing demand for this visa within finite resources, sponsorships and nominations for position types where there has been ongoing demand with strong quality indicators will be streamlined.

This includes sectors such as: Health Care and Social Assistance; Professional Scientific and Technical; Education and Training; Engineering and Aviation.

Consideration of sponsorships and nominations with the following factors will be considered, but not streamlined, leading to extended processing times:

• Where there appears to be intent to maintain ongoing work in Australia rather than a genuine training outcome;
• Nominations with a training duration not commensurate to the level of skills development to be obtained;
• Nominations with long a duration of training and a low rate of pay/remuneration.

These settings will continue to be reviewed.