For almost nine years, Bashshar Khalid has been building a life in Australia.
Khalid first moved onto a temporary graduate visa, known as a subclass 485, and recently secured a subclass 482 work visa after finding work in sales.
One of the biggest difficulties was convincing an employer to invest in someone whose ability to remain in Australia had an expiry date attached to it.
At one point, Khalid's temporary graduate visa was approaching expiry while his employer-sponsored visa application was still being processed.
The federal government has announced another suite of changes aimed at tightening Australia's migration system and further reducing net overseas migration.
The government will also introduce a 'no further stay' condition on all visitor visas and crack down on migration agents it says knowingly support applications without merit.
Announcing the reforms on Thursday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government was targeting people who would "never" meet the requirements for permanent residency but continued moving through the migration system to extend their stay.
Khalid said he believes there should be a clearer distinction between people switching courses to stay in the country, and migrants progressing through study and skilled work.
Former immigration department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi also supports reducing visa hopping but cautioned against applying restrictions too broadly.
Rizvi pointed to businesses that bring workers into Australia on business visas when they urgently need their skills while waiting for a skilled temporary visa to be processed.
Rizvi believes those forecasts will probably be achieved if the changes are combined with the high student visa refusal rates he says have been in place since November 2025.