Visa condition 8558: the 12 months in 18 months rule explained

The Visitor visa (subclass 600) allows a temporary stay in Australia for tourism, business visitor activities, or visiting family and friends. Many grants include stay limitations such as condition 8558.

Condition 8558 is a stay limitation commonly applied to Visitor visas (including subclass 600). It restricts how long you can remain in Australia within a rolling period. The standard wording is:

You must not remain in Australia for more than 12 months in any period of 18 months.

Key points

• Rolling, not calendar. From any date, look back 18 months and count every day you were in Australia. That total must not exceed 12 months (365 days).
• Multiple entry. A multiple-entry Visitor visa 600 lets you come and go, but every stay inside the window still counts.
• Leaving does not reset it. A trip only stops counting once it falls more than 18 months in the past.
• Compliance matters. Overstaying can cause visa cancellation and affect future applications.

After three trips Maria has used 333 of 365 days in the 18 months ending 20 December 2026, leaving 32 days. If she plans a fourth trip in January 2027, she can stay at most 32 days, unless part of trip 1 has dropped out of the window by then. The calculator does this arithmetic for you, including the day trip 1 starts to roll off.

1. Arrival and departure days both count

A trip from 1 March to 3 March is three days, not two nights. Fly in on the morning of the 1st and out on the evening of the 3rd and you have still used three days. Over six short trips a year that difference alone can be a fortnight.

2. Leaving Australia does not reset anything

The window looks backwards from whatever date is being checked, so a departure does not clear your total. Days leave the count on their own schedule: a day you spent here drops out exactly 18 months later. If you arrived on 10 April 2025, that day stops counting on 10 October 2026, not when you fly home.

3. The worst window is the one that matters

You are not measured against one window. Every possible 18-month period has to stay under the limit, so a cluster of long trips can breach a window that closed months ago even if your current total looks comfortable. Our calculator reports the peak window it finds rather than just today's figure, which is why it sometimes flags a breach when a simple running total does not.

4. Your visa end date can bite first

Condition 8558 caps time inside a rolling window. It does not extend your visa. If your visa expires with 40 days of allowance left, the visa expiry is your real deadline. Always take the earlier of the two dates.

5. Transit is not a stay, but clearing immigration is

Staying airside between connecting flights does not add a day. If you pass through immigration for any reason, including an overnight stop or collecting bags, that day counts. When in doubt, count it.