No substantive visa and applying for a 407: what the 28-day rule means in 2026

If you are in Australia and no longer hold a substantive visa, you can still lodge a Training visa (Subclass 407) application onshore — but only through a narrow exception with a short deadline. According to the Department of Home Affairs' Training visa (Subclass 407) official page, as at the August 2026 version, your last substantive visa must not have been a Subclass 403 (Temporary Work (International Relations)) visa in the Domestic Worker (Diplomatic or Consular) stream, a Subclass 771 (Transit) visa, or a Special Purpose visa, and your application must be made within 28 days of the relevant trigger. The page lists two triggers: the day your last substantive visa ceased to be in effect, or the day you were notified of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal's (AAT) decision to set aside and substitute the decision to cancel your substantive visa, or of the Minister's decision not to revoke that cancellation.

This piece explains that rule as a matter of legal process and timing. It is general information about how published criteria work, not personalised advice, and the Department's current official page remains the authority on the criteria as they stand.

What counts as holding "no substantive visa"?

A substantive visa is the visa that actually gives you permission to be in Australia for a purpose — student, visitor, skilled, training, and so on. A bridging visa is not a substantive visa; the Department's page itself separates the two when it refers to "the last substantive or subsequent bridging visa that you held".

So the second limb of the rule covers two common situations: you are on a bridging visa while a decision is being reviewed or a new application is being prepared, or your last visa has ceased and you hold nothing. What matters for the 407 is not which of those you are in, but whether your last substantive visa was one of the three excluded types and how long ago the trigger happened.

Which visas block an onshore 407 application?

The restriction runs in two directions — it applies to what you hold now, and it follows your last substantive visa even after that visa has gone.

Suppose an applicant's last substantive visa was a Subclass 771 (Transit) visa and it ceased last week. On the Department's published criteria, that person cannot rely on the 28-day exception at all, because the exclusion is written into both limbs. The same applicant could ask the question again from outside Australia, where a different set of rules applies.

When does the 28 days actually start?

The clock is tied to an event, not to when you decide to apply, and the two limbs use different reference points.

Visa ceased: the 28 days run from the day the last substantive visa you held ceased to be in effect. This is the ordinary expiry or cessation date, not the day you received a letter about it.

AAT or Minister's decision: the 28 days run from the day you were notified of the decision. This matters because a decision can be made on one date and communicated on a later one, and the Department's wording uses notification. Keeping the notification record — the letter or email and its date — is therefore part of protecting the window.

Suppose an applicant is notified on 10 August 2026 that the AAT has set aside the original decision and substituted a decision to cancel their substantive visa. The 28 days are counted from 10 August 2026, not from the date the AAT signed the decision.

What does an AAT or Minister's cancellation decision change?

A cancellation does not automatically end your onshore 407 option; it changes which limb you are in. Where the AAT sets aside the departmental decision and substitutes its own decision to cancel, or where the Minister decides not to revoke a cancellation, the cancellation stands and your substantive visa is at an end — but the Department's criteria give you 28 days from notification to lodge a 407 onshore, provided your last substantive visa was not one of the three excluded types.

This is why the rule is best read as a procedural window rather than a penalty. It exists so that a person whose status has just ended through a review or ministerial decision has one short, defined period in which an onshore application is still possible.

What happens if you miss the 28 days?

The Department states the 28-day requirement as part of the eligibility criteria for this visa, and its official page does not describe any mechanism for extending it. Once the period has passed, an onshore Subclass 407 application would not meet the published criteria on that basis.

Two related points appear on the same page and are worth keeping separate. For people who have had a visa cancelled or an application refused, the Department notes that "in some circumstances you may still apply for a permanent visa" and points to its Limitations on applications in Australia material — that is a different pathway with different criteria, not a fix for a 407 that is out of time. For people applying from outside Australia, the page refers to re-entry ban information; again, that is a separate question from the onshore 28-day window.

The practical risk of delay is cumulative. Every day spent without a substantive visa is a day nearer the end of the window, and it is also a period in which your compliance with the conditions of any bridging visa you hold becomes part of the record that a decision-maker later looks at.

What else must be true at the same time?

Meeting the 28-day rule does not by itself make you eligible. The same page sets out a full set of criteria that apply alongside it, and some of them take longer to arrange than the window lasts.

• An approved sponsor. Your sponsor must be approved as a temporary activities sponsor.
• An approved nomination. Your sponsor must have nominated you for a program of occupational training, unless the sponsor is an Australian Commonwealth Government agency. Critically, the nomination must be approved before you apply for the visa.
• Age. Usually 18 or older at the time the visa application is decided.
• Genuine temporary entrant. You must only intend to stay temporarily and do what the visa allows, and you must have substantially complied with the conditions of the last substantive or subsequent bridging visa you held.
• Functional English, the health requirement, the character requirement, adequate health insurance for the whole stay, the Australian values statement if you are 18 or over, and any debt to the Australian Government repaid or arranged.
• Immigration history. The Department considers it, which means a cancellation or refusal in your history can affect eligibility.

The approved-nomination point is the one that most often collides with the 28-day clock. Suppose an applicant learns on 1 September that their last substantive visa ceased, and their prospective sponsor has not yet had a nomination approved. The 28-day window does not pause while the nomination is decided; the two processes have to line up inside the same period.

Where does this sit in the legislation?

The onshore limitation is also reflected in the Migration Regulations 1994. Schedule 2 clause 407.218 provides that an applicant must not hold a permanent visa or a temporary visa specified in a Minister's legislative instrument, and clause 407.217 sets the genuine temporary entrant test by reference to whether the applicant has complied substantially with the conditions of their last substantive visa — which is the same compliance idea the official page repeats in plainer words.

Other Schedule 2 clauses set the surrounding criteria: 407.211 (age), 407.212 (functional English), and 407.511 (maximum stay). The Regulations and the Department's Procedures Advice Manual describe the structure as three steps — sponsor approval, nomination, then visa application — with the nomination considered before the visa.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I apply for a 407 onshore after my substantive visa has expired?

Yes, but only through the narrow exception on the Department's official page. Your last substantive visa must not have been a Subclass 403 (Domestic Worker (Diplomatic or Consular) stream), a Subclass 771 (Transit) visa, or a Special Purpose visa, and you must apply within 28 days of the day that visa ceased to be in effect.

Does the 28 days run from the decision date or the notification date?

For the review and ministerial limb, it runs from the day you were notified. The Department's wording ties the period to notification of the AAT's decision to set aside and substitute the cancellation decision, or of the Minister's decision not to revoke it, so the date you were told is the date that counts.

I am on a bridging visa — does the 28-day rule still apply?

The rule is written for people who do not hold a substantive visa, and a bridging visa is not a substantive visa. Being on a bridging visa does not restart or extend the 28 days; the period still runs from the original trigger, and your compliance with that bridging visa's conditions is later considered under the genuine temporary entrant criterion.

Can the 28-day period be extended?

The Department's official page states the requirement without describing any extension. Treat the period as fixed and check the current page for the position as it stands, since criteria can be updated.

Does having had a visa cancelled make me ineligible for a 407?

Not automatically. The Department says it will consider your immigration history when deciding, which means a cancellation or refusal can affect eligibility, and the 28-day window after an AAT or Minister's decision is precisely the mechanism that keeps an onshore 407 possible in that situation.

Do I need the nomination approved before I lodge?

Yes. The Department states that it must approve your nomination before you apply for the visa, and that your sponsor must be approved as a temporary activities sponsor and have nominated you for a program of occupational training unless the sponsor is an Australian Commonwealth Government agency.

References

• Department of Home Affairs — Training visa (Subclass 407)
• Federal Register of Legislation — Migration Regulations 1994 (Subclass 407)