Visa refused or cancelled

The deadline is the whole matter

Review of most visa decisions is to the Administrative Review Tribunal, which replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024. The time to apply is short, it varies by decision type, and in many cases it is 28 days or less from the day you are taken to have received the decision. Where the applicant is in immigration detention the period is shorter again, and it varies with the kind of decision. The decision record states your time limit. Work from that, not from a website. The Tribunal cannot extend the period.

Refusal and cancellation are different problems

A refusal leaves you where you were, subject to your existing status and any bar. A cancellation can strip a substantive visa immediately, and where it occurs on character grounds under s 501 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) the consequences include a permanent exclusion from most visa classes and, in most cases, detention.

Section 48

Section 48 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) bars a person who is in the migration zone, who does not hold a substantive visa, and who since last entering Australia has had a visa application refused or a visa cancelled, from applying onshore for anything other than a prescribed class of visa. The prescribed classes include protection visas, certain bridging visas and medical treatment visas, and since November 2021 subclasses 190, 491 and 494. The bar does not apply to a person who still holds a substantive visa — which is why the date a current visa expires often matters as much as the date of the refusal.

What can be done

Review is a fresh merits decision, so new evidence is admissible and the Tribunal stands in the shoes of the delegate. Provide the documents that were missing the first time and prepare your oral evidence. Check that nothing you say contradicts the original application.

Fees

We do not publish visa fees.