Australia's Character Test Overhaul: Direction 123 Takes Effect October 31
Updated: 12 hours ago
CANBERRA, October 22, 2026 — Australia will implement the most significant revision to its visa character assessment framework in years on 31 October 2026, when Ministerial Direction 123 (MD 123) replaces Ministerial Direction 110 and reshapes how decision-makers weigh criminal history, community risk and personal ties.
The change does not alter the statutory character test under section 501 of the Migration Act. It changes the balancing exercise that follows it — and the tilt is decisively toward community protection.
A Pattern of Restructuring
The character overhaul is the third major ministerial direction to land in Australia’s visa system in six weeks.
Ministerial Direction 122, effective from 19 September 2026, reorganized the processing order for ten permanent and provisional skilled-migration subclasses by de-emphasizing applicant location and prioritizing seven key sectors: construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, resources, and law enforcement or defence. This directive is retroactively applied to all pending applications, so submissions made months ago might have changed their position without informing applicants or sponsors.
A separate instrument, Ministerial Direction 121, governs the subclass 482 Skills in Demand visa with its own five-band priority structure.
MD 123 completes the trio by rewriting the guidance for character-related refusals and cancellations. For a full breakdown of how Direction 122 reshaped skilled visa processing — including the sectors that jumped ahead and the applicants who slid down — see our earlier analysis: Australia's Ministerial Direction 122 Overhauls Skilled Visa Queue.
What Changes Under Direction 123
The statutory test is unchanged. The weighting is not.
Consideration | Direction 110 (current) | Direction 123 (from 31 October) |
Protection of the Australian community | Primary consideration among several | Elevated further |
Ties to Australia | Significant weight | Reduced weight |
Length of residence | Mitigating factor | Reduced emphasis |
Business and economic ties | Relevant | Reduced emphasis |
Impact on victims and children | Considered | Greater attention |
Migration law compliance | Considered | Greater emphasis |
Availability for removal | Considered | Greater emphasis |
The practical consequence is that the mitigating factors a person would previously have relied on — decades of residence, family in Australia, an employer who needs them, a business they built — now carry less force against a character finding.
The Definition of Unacceptable Conduct Has Widened
Direction 123 expands what counts as conduct relevant to the character assessment. It now expressly captures:
Hate speech
Public incitement of violence
Association with designated extremist or hate organisations
The addition aligns the direction with the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act, passed in January 2026. Behaviour that previously sat outside the character framework — or required a stretch to fit within it — is now squarely within scope.
For visa holders, this creates a category of risk that has nothing to do with criminal convictions. Public statements, social media activity, and organisational affiliations can now feed directly into a character assessment.
The Retroactivity Trap
This is the detail most likely to catch employers and applicants out.
Direction 123 applies to any decision made on or after 31 October 2026. It does not matter when the application was lodged or when the cancellation review began.
A visa application filed in June, or a cancellation review that has been sitting with the department since August, will be decided under the tougher guidance if the decision lands in November or later.
For employers, that means files currently considered low-risk because they were lodged under the old framework may not stay low-risk. The assessment standard is determined by the decision date, not the lodgement date.
Who Is Exposed
The direction’s reach extends beyond serious criminal conduct.
Employees with historical convictions — including offences committed years ago, minor sentences, and convictions recorded overseas — face a higher risk profile. Under Direction 110, a spent conviction or a foreign sentence served long ago could be outweighed by length of residence and employment ties. Under Direction 123, that balancing is harder.
Subclass 482 visa holders are a particular focus. The Skills in Demand visa is the largest employer-sponsored temporary stream, and its holders often have long residence trajectories that sponsors rely on for continuity.
Student visa holders are the other group flagged. Student cohorts are large, younger, and more likely to have minor offences on record — precisely the profile where the old weighting could produce a favourable outcome and the new weighting may not.
What Migration Lawyers Are Advising
Three preparatory steps are being recommended before the direction commences.
Obtain updated police clearances. Records from jurisdictions where an employee previously lived may contain disclosable matters the employer has never seen. Better to know now than in the middle of a cancellation review.
Collect rehabilitation evidence. When a conviction is present, having documented proof of rehabilitation — such as employment history, community involvement, completion of counseling, and no further offenses — is crucial, as other mitigating factors are now less significant.
Prepare submissions addressing community expectations. The direction elevates community protection as a consideration. Submissions that engage with that framing directly are more likely to be persuasive than those that lean on economic contribution alone.
Beyond individual files, employers are being urged to conduct a workforce audit — identifying anyone with a criminal history, character-related correspondence from Home Affairs, or pending visa decisions — and to secure specialist legal counsel before 31 October rather than after.
The Political and Industry Divide
The government frames the change as a community-safety measure. That framing is consistent with a broader pattern: the character test was already tightened in October 2026 to expand domestic and family violence considerations and to give greater weight to community protection.
Industry groups are less sanguine. Their concern is not the principle but the operational consequence: borderline cases may be decided with little notice, leaving employers to absorb sudden vacancies in roles that were already hard to fill.
That risk lands hardest on sectors with acute skills shortages — construction, healthcare, regional trades — where a cancelled visa can take months to replace and where the pipeline of substitute candidates is thin.
What Employers Should Do Before October 31
Audit the workforce. Identify visa holders with any criminal record, character-related correspondence, or pending decisions. Prioritise subclass 482 and Student visa holders.
Request updated clearances. Where records may exist in multiple jurisdictions, obtain them now.
Brief affected employees carefully. A cancellation process can be triggered without warning. Employees who understand the risk in advance can prepare evidence rather than scramble.
Build contingency into planning. For roles where a visa holder is the sole incumbent of a hard-to-fill position, identify a fallback before it is needed.
Monitor Home Affairs announcements. The direction is published, but operational guidance for case officers may follow separately.
Read Also
Quick Reference Summary
Item | Detail |
Instrument | Ministerial Direction 123 |
Signed | 18 September 2026 |
Signed By | Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke |
Commencement | 31 October 2026 |
Replaces | Ministerial Direction 110 |
Statutory Test | Unchanged (section 501, Migration Act) |
Elevated | Community protection; victim and child impact; migration compliance; removal availability |
Reduced | Ties to Australia; length of residence; business ties |
New Conduct Covered | Hate speech; public incitement of violence; association with designated extremist or hate organisations |
Legislative Alignment | Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act (January 2026) |
Retroactivity | Applies to decisions made on or after 31 October 2026, regardless of lodgement date |
Highest-Risk Cohorts | Subclass 482 holders; Student visa holders |
For the latest immigration updates, visa policy changes, and 2026 developments worldwide, visit: visasupdate.com/blog/category/australia
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These visa rules are getting complicated. I'd rather relax with a quick game of FNF!