The Australian Department of Home Affairs publishes data via the Australian Bureau of Statistics on temporary visa holders in Australia. The most recent data comes from September 30, 2025. The highlights include:
- There were 2.90m visa holders in Australia as at the end of September 2025, which appears to be a new record high across the ABS quarterly statistics;
- Students (500) visa holders are sitting at 736,306 in Australia as at September 30 2025, which is a new all time record, eclipsing last quarter end, June which was 736,231. This continued growth in 2025 is despite new rules on CoEs and caps on international student numbers impacts the numbers, noting Student Visas granted is down significantly (see below);
- Working Holiday Makers (417 and 462 visas) remain strong at 239,324, another record high;
- The 485 Graduate Visa Program has continued to be well received, 217,624 at September end, down marginally on March 31 2025 high of 224,015;
Visas and the Australian workforce
Australia’s unemployment rate sits at 4.3% in September and remains low, highlighting our economy’s reliance on temporary visa holder labour.
Visitor Visas In Australia
Visitor visas, are slightly down on same period last year at 634,670 vs 674,723 on September 30 2024. This is not a great sign for tourism but when you net off the Work Holiday visa numbers, the drop is not great, but not as bad as Visitor Visas alone (903,035 September 30 2024 vs 873,994 September 30 2025).
Working Holiday Visas Australia
Looking at 417 and 462 working holiday visas, we had a new record high of 239,324 active working holiday visas in Australia as at 30 September 2025 (up from 228,312 on the same day in the previous year).
Assessing the quarterly trend, we can see a consistent upward trend, seemingly disproportionally driven by the changes to working holiday rules for UK citizens under the Free Trade Agreement with Brits making up close to 25% of all working holiday visas:
Student Visas
Students (500) visa holders are sitting at 736,306 in Australia as at September 30 2025, which is a new all time record, eclipsing last quarter end, June which was 736,231
2025 Student visa numbers remain uncertain given there have been a host of recent caps and changes to Student Visas which should see a slide from these peaks.
As you can see from the number of Student Visas granted, there was a massive influx post COVID in 2022-23, but visa grant numbers have since fallen. So far in financial year 2026 (July – September), there have been 84,740 student visas grant. We have multiplied by 4 for the project number below.
Bridging Visas
After a dramatic decrease in the post election final quarter of 2022 (which saw a massive 44% drop in just 1 quarter as Home Affairs powered through the visa application backlog), Bridging Visas numbers have climbed back to 405,150 as at September 30 2025. This is up significantly on 2023, when there were just 191, 235 active bridging visas as at September 30 that year.
Skilled employment visas
Then there’s the temporary resident, skilled employment visas, which continue to grow strongly to a new record high of 233,601 as at September 30. Skilled migration remains firmily on the current government’s agenda.
Where Australian Temporary Visa Numbers Have Landed
As you can see from the above and below, active temporary visa holder are still strong in Australia nearing all time highs. Working Holiday Makers are here in big numbers. Skilled visas are well and truly on the up and up. Bridging visas have again trended well up!
Data source data.gov.au
