Subclass 400 Obligations in 2026: Reporting Passport, Address and Family Changes

Yes — if you hold a Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa (Subclass 400) and your passport, address or phone number changes, or a child is born to you while the visa is in effect, the Australian Department of Home Affairs lists those as things you must tell it about. That list appears in the "Tell us if things change" section of the Department's official Temporary Work (Short Stay Specialist) visa (Subclass 400) page, as at August 2026, and the same page points holders to its change-in-situation guidance for how the notification is made. This article is general information drawn from those published rules rather than personalised advice for your circumstances; your visa grant letter, your VEVO record and the official pages are what govern your case.

What changes does Subclass 400 actually require you to report?

The Department's official page names four items in one sentence, and the wording matters: "Things you need to let us know about when you have this visa include" — changes to your phone number, address or passport, and the birth of a child.

The use of "include" is not decorative. It signals a non-exhaustive list rather than a closed checklist, so it is safer to treat anything that alters the identity or contact details the Department holds for you as reportable, and to confirm the mechanics on the official change-in-situation page.

Change	Named on the official Subclass 400 page	Why it matters in practice
New or reissued passport	Yes	The visa is digitally linked to your passport; there is no visa label
Residential address in Australia	Yes	It is the contact channel for correspondence and compliance checks
Phone number	Yes	Same — it is how a holder can be reached
Birth of a child	Yes	A new person's status has to be recorded; a newborn is not covered by reporting alone
Conditions or work entitlements	Not a "change" — check them directly	VEVO shows the conditions attached to your grant

Why a new passport is the change people miss

There is no visa label in your passport for this visa. The Department digitally links the grant to the travel document you used, which means a reissued passport does not automatically carry proof of your visa with it in the way a physical label once did.

In practice this bites at two moments: boarding a flight back to Australia, and proving your entitlement to an employer or a border officer. Checking VEVO after a passport change confirms the visa is still matched to you, and the Department's change-in-situation guidance is where the passport update itself is lodged.

Do family members on the same grant have to report changes too?

Yes. The official page states the obligation in the plural: "You and your family members must meet all visa conditions and obey Australian laws." The obligation to comply with visa conditions and Australian laws is stated in the plural. The separate reporting list on the page is addressed to you as the visa holder.

Family members who were granted a visa with you can be in Australia, but the official page is explicit that they are not allowed to work. The visa information page adds that accompanying family members cannot study either, apart from a language training program. That restriction sits on them regardless of whether any personal detail changes, so a family member's new passport or address does not create work rights that were never granted.

How do you actually notify the Department?

The official Subclass 400 page does not set out a form number or a deadline for these notifications; it directs holders to its change-in-situation guidance, which is the page that carries the current channel and any supporting documents required. Treat that page as the authority on the mechanism, because channels and online forms change more often than the visa criteria do.

One distinction is worth holding onto: notifying a change of address or passport is a reporting obligation, not an application. It does not re-decide your visa, and it does not produce a new grant letter with new conditions.

Does reporting a change extend your stay or change your conditions?

No. Your visa stay period starts on the date you first enter Australia, and that period is shown on your visa grant letter and in VEVO. Time spent outside Australia does not extend the visa, and re-entering on a multiple entry visa does not restart the stay period you were granted.

Two related limits follow from the same page and are easy to confuse with a change notification:

You cannot stay in Australia longer by extending this visa.
You cannot apply for this visa from within Australia.

So if a change in your situation means you now need more time, reporting the change is something you must do anyway, but it is not the route to a longer stay — that requires a different visa.

Separately, you must arrive in Australia within 6 months of the date the visa is granted, or a lesser period specified in your grant letter. A single entry visa allows one entry only; a multiple entry visa allows travel in and out during the stay period.

What else are you obliged to do while you hold the visa?

The umbrella obligation is short and broad: comply with all visa conditions and obey Australian laws. Your specific conditions are not reproduced in a fixed list on the visa listing page — they are individual to your grant and shown in VEVO, which is also where your work entitlements appear.

Working in Australia on this visa also means Australian workplace law applies to you. The Department's page links directly to the Fair Work Ombudsman's guidance on visa holders and migrant workers, and states plainly that you are protected by Australian workplace law.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to report a new passport if my old one is still valid?

The Department lists passport changes as something to tell it about, and because the visa is digitally linked rather than labelled, a new passport does not by itself carry evidence of your visa. Updating the passport details and then checking VEVO is the sequence the official material supports.

Is there a deadline for reporting a change of address?

The official Subclass 400 page does not state a number of days for these notifications. It lists the changes and refers holders to the change-in-situation guidance, so that guidance is where any timing expectation is set out.

Does an email change need to be reported?

The page names phone number, address and passport. Because the list is introduced with "include", it is not presented as exhaustive, and the change-in-situation guidance is the place to confirm whether an email or other contact change should also be updated.

Is the birth of a child really something I have to report?

Yes. The birth of a child is named on the official page alongside passport, address and phone changes. Reporting the birth records the event with the Department; it does not by itself grant the child a visa, and the change-in-situation guidance is the reference for what happens next.

Do my family members' changes get reported separately?

The obligation to comply with visa conditions and Australian laws is stated to apply to you and your family members. Family members cannot work, and cannot study apart from a language training program, so a change in their details does not alter those limits.

Where do I check my exact conditions and stay period?

Both are shown in VEVO, and your visa stay period also appears on your visa grant letter. The official page does not publish a universal condition list for this visa because conditions attach to individual grants.