IN BRIEF
- Australia is targeting students, backpackers and overstayers as it seeks to bring net overseas migration down.
- Canada, the US, UK and countries across Europe are also tightening parts of their immigration systems.
Australia has unveiled a major shake-up of its migration system, targeting visa-hoppers, overstayers, international students and backpackers as the federal government seeks to bring migration down further.
The changes come as governments in several other major migrant destinations — including Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe — also tighten parts of their immigration systems.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced the reforms on Thursday, which include restrictions on international students bringing family members, new rules aimed at preventing "visa hopping", and caps on working holidaymakers seeking to extend their stays.
The government is also strengthening enforcement against visa overstayers and migration agents who lodge applications without merit, while changing the skilled migration system to prioritise workers in areas including healthcare, construction and education.
The government wants to bring net overseas migration down from 292,100 to 245,000 in the year to July 2027, and to 225,000 each year thereafter.
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The changes include caps on working holidaymakers extending their stays, with 45,000 second-year places and just 5,000 third-year places — down from 57,000 and 31,000 respectively.
There will also be a crackdown on the 77,000 people who are believed to be overstaying their visas: they will face tougher enforcement, including detention.
So, how does Australia's approach compare with migration changes elsewhere in the world?
United States
The United States has pursued what US President Donald Trump has promised to be the "largest domestic deportation" operation in US history, built on aggressive enforcement.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been tasked with that crackdown after its annual budget more than tripled, with heavily armed agents facing worldwide backlash for aggressive tactics, including the fatal shootings of two US citizens this year in Minneapolis.
The Department of Homeland Security says the Trump administration has deported more than 605,000 "illegal aliens", with a further 1.9 million "self-deporting".
Trump has also focused on border security, particularly in the south, primarily targeting Mexican migrants and those crossing the border illegally — as well as the construction of the continued and expanded construction of the Mexico-United States border wall.
He has also worked to restrict the entry of foreigners who do follow the rules and has gone after those who overstay their visas after they expire.
The US government plans to revoke the visas of foreigners who came to the country for tourism or business but sought to stay longer by applying for asylum.
The administration also paused visa approvals for people from 75 "high-risk" countries — Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Thailand and Yemen — a move a federal judge struck down last month.
He also saw another legal setback this week after a federal judge blocked his attempt to impose stricter limits on how long foreign students and journalists can study or work in the US.
The Trump administration has also expanded vetting of visa applicants' social media accounts, with a State Department spokesperson saying: "A visa is a privilege — not a right."
In August, the department said that since President Donald Trump returned to power in January 2025, some 175,000 foreigners had seen their US visas revoked on grounds ranging from criminal offences, including driving under the influence, to praising the killing of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Canada
Canada has long held a reputation for welcoming immigrants, with foreign-born people making up almost a quarter of its population.
But that reputation, and its appeal relative to the US' immigration crackdown under Trump, hasn't stopped Canada from hardening its own approach.
Under Prime Minister Mark Carney, Canada has cut its temporary resident target to 385,000 this year, down 25 per cent from the 516,600 previously planned for 2026.
Canada aims to reduce its temporary resident population to less than 5 per cent of the total population by the end of 2027.
Of the 385,000 temporary resident arrivals targeted this year, 230,000 are workers and 155,000 are international students.
International students have been particularly affected by Canada's migration tightening. The government expects to issue up to 408,000 study permits in 2026 — including extensions for existing students — down 7 per cent from its 2025 target and 16 per cent from its 2024 target.
Canada's temporary population has already begun to fall, declining from a peak of 7.6 per cent of the country's population to 6.5 per cent.
Immigration plans for 2026-28 focus on a "return to sustainable immigration levels", with a focus on decreasing temporary resident arrivals and stabilising permanent resident admissions.
While reducing temporary migration, Canada plans to stabilise permanent migration at 380,000 admissions a year between 2026 and 2028.
Its plan places greater emphasis on economic migration and workers in high-demand occupations, while continuing to prioritise family reunification and refugee resettlement.
Canada is also increasing its target for French-speaking permanent residents settling outside Quebec, from 9 per cent of admissions in 2026 to 9.5 per cent in 2027 and 10.5 per cent in 2028.
It will also focus on attracting workers in high-demand occupations, increase the target for Francophone admissions, while aiming to continue to be a "global leader in refugees" and prioritise family reunification.
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought to attract more immigrants to the country, but the increase in migration was blamed for housing pressure and unemployment rates, resulting in a sharp cut in the number of immigrants allowed into the country.
UK
The United Kingdom is also moving to tighten its migration system, with the government proposing to double the standard qualifying period for permanent settlement from five to 10 years.
Under an "earned settlement" model, some legal migrants could face waits of up to 20 years, depending on factors including their reliance on benefits, while high earners and other applicants deemed to have made significant contributions could qualify sooner.
The proposals could affect an estimated 2.6 million people who arrived in the UK since 2021, while separate reforms to the asylum system would replace permanent refugee status with temporary status subject to review every 30 months.
Europe
Europe is cracking down harder on migration amid rising anti-immigration rhetoric in recent years, the surging popularity of far-right parties, and unfolding humanitarian crises.
In June, the European Parliament approved a new migration plan that would allow the return of illegally staying third-country nationals, with the possibility of detention if they don't comply.
The same law doubles detention times for irregular migrants, speeds up deportations, toughens entry bans, and gives authorities the power to search migrants' homes.
One of the changes includes the creation of so-called "return hubs", which would see migrants without legal residency, including rejected asylum seeker claims, hosted in centres in non-EU nations — a model the Lowy Institute says borrows from Australia's own offshore detention approach.
Five countries — Germany, Denmark, Austria, Greece and the Netherlands — are working on the "return hub" plan, with Denmark's immigration minister saying he expects to send the first people to a partner country by the end of 2027.
But not every EU member is on board, with French President Emmanuel Macron dismissing the approach as ineffective and out of step with European values.
The push lands amid a broader rightward shift on migration across Europe.
In Germany, far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) — who vow to heavily restrict immigration — topped state elections, putting a far-right party within reach of power at the state level for the first time since World War II.
Swedish elections on Thursday saw the centre-left Social Democrats win a slim majority — but they have still vowed to maintain a hardline immigration policy, inspired by their Danish counterparts who have one of Europe's toughest and most restrictive immigration policies.
Spain, meanwhile, is dealing with its own migrant humanitarian crisis after at least 72,000 people crossed into the North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco in July. More than 10,000 migrants remain stranded.
Just this week, the European Commission pitched a new emergency response framework following the Ceuta crisis, which could translate into a temporary suspension of the right to asylum in the instance of "mass movements" which are "engineered and weaponised".
— With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters news agency.
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