Is a new course or campus automatically on an Australian provider's 2026 CRICOS registration?

Plain-language guide · general information, not immigration advice

No. Under Australia's ESOS framework, registration is granted to a provider to provide a course or courses at a location or locations — so a newly added course or a newly opened campus is its own registration decision, not something the provider's existing registration absorbs automatically. As of September 2026, the Federal Register of Legislation page for the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act) states this in section 10(1): the ESOS agency for the provider may register the provider to provide a course or courses at a location or locations if the provider meets the registration requirements.

That one sentence carries two separate limits. Registration attaches to courses, and it attaches again to locations. A provider can be genuinely registered and still not be registered for the specific course you want, at the specific campus where it will be taught. The rest of this article explains how those pieces fit together as general background; it is not personalised advice about your enrolment, and an individual decision should rest on the current official register entry together with advice from a suitably qualified professional.

Does registration cover the provider, or the course and the campus?

It covers the course-and-location combination. Section 10(1) is written so that what the ESOS agency grants is permission to provide identified courses at identified locations, conditional on the registration requirements being met. Nothing in that structure extends a granted registration to a course the provider later invents, or to a building it later opens.

The same section adds that the ESOS agency must use a risk management approach when deciding whether to register the provider (section 10(2)). Each addition is therefore assessed on its own facts rather than inherited from the provider's track record. A note under section 10 goes further: the Minister may determine that the ESOS agency for a provider is not required to, or must not, deal with applications for registration for a period (see section 14C). Adding a course or a campus is not a rubber stamp, and it is not always available on demand.

What should an offer or course page actually show?

Section 107 makes it an offence for a person, in written material including electronic form, to offer a course at a location to an overseas student or intending overseas student, to invite one to undertake or apply for it, or to hold itself out as able or willing to provide it, if the material fails to identify:

the registered provider for the course;
the unique identifier allocated to the registered provider under paragraph 14A(4)(d);
any other information prescribed by the regulations.

The stated penalty is imprisonment for 6 months; the Act notes that Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility. In plain terms: a brochure or offer letter that names a course and a campus but does not identify the registered provider behind it, or that provider's allocated unique identifier, is missing information the ESOS Act specifically requires.

Suppose an applicant is considering a newly announced postgraduate course delivered at a campus the provider opened recently. The check that matters is not whether the provider's brand is well known, but whether the written material identifies the registered provider for that course and carries the provider's allocated unique identifier — and whether the campus named is one of the locations the registration actually reaches.

Can a registered provider be off-limits to new overseas students?

Yes, and this is the second place where "registered" misleads. The Immigration Minister may issue a suspension certificate. Section 100(1) provides that such a certificate remains in effect for six months beginning on the day it says it takes effect, and section 100(2) allows the Minister to revoke it at any time by written notice to the provider.

While a suspension certificate is in effect, section 101(1) makes it an offence to offer an overseas student, intending overseas student or prescribed non-citizen a course at any location by that registered provider, to invite one to undertake or apply to undertake such a course, or to hold the provider out as able or willing to provide one. The stated penalty is imprisonment for 2 years. Yet section 101(2) says plainly: the provider is still registered for all other purposes.

So "registered" and "currently able to recruit overseas students for a course" are not the same statement. Section 102 allows a further suspension certificate unless, by the end of the certificate's period, the provider has satisfied the Minister that it should not be given one; the further certificate need not follow the procedure in subsections 98(1) and (2), but a copy must be tabled in both Houses of Parliament within 15 sitting days of being given to the provider.

Situation	Effect on offering a course to an overseas student	Basis
Course and location are within the registration granted under section 10(1), no suspension certificate in force	The offer is not caught by the offence in section 101	ESOS Act s 10(1), s 101
Course or campus is not within what was granted	Registration simply does not extend there; it is a separate question	ESOS Act s 10(1)
Provider is registered but a suspension certificate is in force	Offering, inviting or holding out the provider as able to provide a course at any location is an offence; penalty of imprisonment for 2 years. The provider remains registered for all other purposes	ESOS Act s 101(1)–(2)
Suspension certificate period ends	The Minister may issue a further certificate unless satisfied otherwise; tabling in Parliament within 15 sitting days	ESOS Act s 100(1), s 102

What if the Register hasn't caught up yet?

Section 103(1) requires the Secretary to cause the Register to be altered appropriately when the Immigration Minister has given or revoked a suspension certificate, including a further certificate. Section 103(2) then says a failure to do so does not affect the validity of the certificate or revocation.

The Act therefore separates the certificate's legal effect from the Register's housekeeping. A certificate operates on its own terms from the day it says it takes effect, whether or not the entry has been updated, which is why a clean-looking entry is a starting point for your own verification rather than the whole answer.

What does this mean before you accept a place?

Settle three things in order. First, that the course you intend to study is one of the courses covered. Second, that the campus where it will be delivered is one of the locations covered — a new campus is precisely the case where the assumption fails. Third, that nothing is currently suspending the provider's ability to be offered to overseas students. The provider's brand name answers none of these on its own; the registration does, because registration is what is granted by course and by location. Rules and register entries change, so treat the latest official publication as the position that governs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a new course automatically covered once the provider is registered?

No. Section 10(1) of the ESOS Act authorises registration to provide a course or courses at a location or locations, so each course-and-location combination stands on its own grant. A course added later needs its own registration decision.

If the provider is registered, why does the campus matter?

Because registration is granted for locations as well as courses. A provider registered to deliver a course at one campus is not, by that fact alone, registered to deliver the same course at a newly opened campus elsewhere.

Does a suspension certificate cancel the provider's registration?

No. Section 101(2) states that the provider is still registered for all other purposes while a suspension certificate is in force. What changes is that offering, inviting or holding out the provider for courses at any location becomes an offence, with a stated penalty of imprisonment for 2 years.

How long can a suspension period last?

Section 100(1) sets the period at six months beginning on the day the certificate says it takes effect, and the Minister may revoke it earlier by written notice. Under section 102, a further certificate may follow, and a copy must be tabled in both Houses of Parliament within 15 sitting days of being given to the provider.

What must written material about a course at a location identify?

Under section 107, it must identify the registered provider for the course, the unique identifier allocated to that provider under paragraph 14A(4)(d), and any other information prescribed by the regulations. The stated penalty for failing to do so is imprisonment for 6 months.

Can new registration applications be paused altogether?

The note under section 10 records that the Minister may determine that the ESOS agency for a provider is not required to, or must not, deal with applications for registration for a period (see section 14C). Adding a course or location is therefore not always an option a provider can exercise at will.

Is an un-updated Register entry proof that nothing is happening?

No. Section 103(1) requires the Register to be altered when a suspension certificate is given or revoked, but section 103(2) provides that a failure to alter it does not affect the certificate's or revocation's validity.