Visa Condition 8579 and Regional Residency: Your Legal Obligations on 491/494 (2026)
What condition 8579 requires of 491 and 494 holders, when the regional residency period ends, and how cancellation under the Migration Act works.
If you hold a Subclass 491 or Subclass 494 visa and you have moved — or are thinking about moving — outside the regional area attached to your visa, the short answer is that condition 8579 can be breached by living, working or studying in the wrong place, and a breach exposes the visa to cancellation under the Migration Act 1958. As at September 2026, the operative wording is condition 8579 in Schedule 8 to the Migration Regulations 1994, published by the Federal Register of Legislation, and the condition's own note points to sections 41 and 116 to 119 of the Migration Act 1958 for what happens when a condition is breached. That distinction matters: the condition defines the obligation, while the Act carries the consequences.
What does condition 8579 actually require you to do?
The obligation is different for the two visas, so start by identifying which one you hold.
For a Subclass 491 (Skilled Work Regional (Provisional)) visa, clause 8579(1) says that the holder, while in Australia, must live, work and study only in a part of Australia that was a designated regional area at the time the visa was granted. Two features are easy to miss. First, the reference point is the area as it stood when your visa was granted, not the current regional area list — a later reclassification of your suburb does not, by itself, change what the clause requires of you. Second, "live, work and study" are three separate limbs: an arrangement that keeps your home inside the area can still breach the condition if your job or your course sits outside it.
For a Subclass 494 (Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional)) visa, clause 8579(2) applies to two groups of people: the primary person who satisfied the primary criteria for the grant of the visa, and any person who is a member of the family unit of that primary person. Both groups must live, work and study only in a part of Australia that was a designated regional area at the time the relevant nomination in relation to the primary person was made — and only while in Australia during the regional residency period.
So the 494 version has a clock attached to it, and family members are bound by the primary person's nomination, not by a separate test of their own.
When does the 494 regional residency period start and end?
Clauses 8579(4) and 8579(5) define the period, and which one applies depends on whether the relevant nomination is the first nomination or a later one.
| Relevant nomination is the first nomination | Relevant nomination is a later nomination | |
|---|---|---|
| Period starts | If the holder was in Australia at the time of grant — at that time; otherwise, when the holder first enters Australia as the holder of the visa | At the start of the day on which the primary person commences work, as the holder of the visa, in the position associated with the occupation nominated by the later nomination |
| Period ends | At the end of the day before the day the primary person starts work under another approved nomination, or otherwise when the visa ceases to have effect | Same: at the end of the day before the day the primary person starts work under another approved nomination, or otherwise when the visa ceases to have effect |
Reading the two columns together, the period is not fixed to a number of years anywhere in the condition. It runs until either a new nomination takes effect through the primary person actually starting work in the new position, or the visa ceases to have effect. Absence from Australia is not listed as something that ends it; the obligation itself, though, is expressed as applying "while in Australia".
Which nomination sets the area — the first one or a later one?
Clause 8579(3) answers this, and it is the part most often misunderstood.
- If the nomination identified in the primary person's application is the first and only nomination approved under subsection 140GB(2) of the Act in relation to the primary person for the purposes of the visa, the relevant nomination is that first nomination.
- If, after the first nomination was approved, another nomination has been approved under that subsection and the primary person has commenced work, as the holder of the visa, in the position associated with the occupation nominated by that later nomination, then the relevant nomination is the later nomination.
Approval alone is not enough. The second limb requires that work has actually commenced in the new position. Assume a 494 holder whose employer's second nomination is approved but who never starts in the new role: on the face of clause 8579(3), the later nomination does not become the relevant nomination, and the original area remains the benchmark.
This also explains the gap-filling in the table. The end of one period and the start of the next are designed to meet — the old period ends at the end of the day before work commences, and the new one begins at the start of the day work commences — so there is no unregulated day in the middle, provided the commencement requirement is met.
How would the Department find out, and what can it ask for?
Two neighbouring conditions in Schedule 8 do this work, and whether they attach to your visa depends on the relevant provision in Schedule 2 for your visa class.
Condition 8578 requires the holder to notify Immigration of a change, within 14 days after the change occurs, to any of: the holder's residential address; an email address; a phone number; the holder's passport details; the address of an employer; or the address of the location of a position in which the holder is employed.
Condition 8580 allows the Minister to request, in writing, that the holder provide evidence within 28 days of the date of the request of any or all of: the holder's residential address; the address of each employer; the address of each location of each position in which the holder is employed; and the address of an educational institution attended by the holder.
Those four categories in 8580 are, in practice, the same categories a holder would need to show compliance with 8579 — where you live, where your employers are, where you physically work, and where you study. A written request under 8580 is therefore usually the moment a residency question becomes a documentary one, and the 28-day clock is short if records have to be gathered from past landlords or former employers.
If you breach condition 8579, is cancellation automatic?
No — and the condition does not say otherwise. The note attached to condition 8579 states that whether a visa of a particular class may be made subject to the condition depends on the relevant provision in Schedule 2, and that for cancellation for breaches of conditions, see sections 41 and 116 to 119 of the Migration Act 1958.
In other words, Schedule 8 sets the standard of behaviour; the Act sets out the grounds, the process and the review rights that follow. Because those provisions sit in the Act rather than in the condition, the procedure that applies to a particular holder — including how a notice is given, what the holder is invited to say, and what review options exist and by when — has to be read from the Act as currently in force and from official government information at the time. This article is general information about how the rules fit together; it is not personalised legal advice, and it cannot tell you how a discretion would be exercised in your circumstances, so check the official sources or get advice from a registered professional before acting on a cancellation risk.
Where the two visas differ, in one place
| Subclass 491 | Subclass 494 | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is bound | The holder | The primary person and members of their family unit |
| Area benchmark | Designated regional area at the time the visa was granted | Designated regional area at the time the relevant nomination was made |
| Time limit | Applies while the holder is in Australia; the clause sets no separate period | Applies while in Australia during the regional residency period |
| When the obligation stops | Not specified in the condition itself | End of the day before work starts under another approved nomination, or when the visa ceases to have effect |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does condition 8579 mean I can never leave regional Australia?
The clause regulates where you live, work and study while you are in Australia; it does not, on its face, prohibit travel. What it does not do is stop running because you were away — for a 494 holder, the regional residency period ends only in the two ways set out in clauses 8579(4) and 8579(5).
My suburb was regional when my 491 was granted but has since been reclassified. Am I now in breach?
Not on the plain wording of clause 8579(1), which fixes the test at "a part of Australia that was a designated regional area at the time the visa was granted". The benchmark is the area as at grant, not as at today.
I am on a 494 as a family member. Does the condition apply to me?
Yes. Clause 8579(2)(b)(ii) covers a person who is a member of the family unit of the primary person who satisfied the primary criteria. Your obligation is tied to the primary person's relevant nomination.
My employer has had a second nomination approved. Does that reset the area?
Only once the primary person has actually commenced work, as the holder of the visa, in the position associated with the occupation nominated by that later nomination — clause 8579(3)(b) requires both approval and commencement. Once that happens, the old period ends at the end of the day before the commencement day and a new period starts from the start of that day.
Can my visa be cancelled just for breaching condition 8579?
A breach is not automatically a cancellation. The note to the condition directs you to sections 41 and 116 to 119 of the Migration Act 1958, which are the provisions dealing with cancellation for breaches of conditions and with what follows.
What evidence can the Department require, and how long do I have?
Under condition 8580, if the Minister requests it in writing, the holder must provide evidence of their residential address, each employer's address, each work location address, and the address of any educational institution attended, within 28 days of the date of the request.