Guide

After a visa refusal

A refusal starts a period running, and it runs whether or not you have decided what to do. This guide sets out what to read first and what to check before you lodge anything.

General information, not legal advice. This page sets out how the law generally applies. It does not take account of your circumstances, and you should get advice about your own situation before acting on it. The official sources this page is written from are listed on it; where they differ from anything here, they are the authority.

In short

Almost everything that matters in the first week is in one document: the decision record the Department of Home Affairs sent you. It says whether the decision can be reviewed, who may apply and how long there is.

Do this first: find that document in full, note the date you were notified, and read the part about review.

Read the decision record first

The decision record is the letter or notification sent when the visa was refused. It usually appears in ImmiAccount and at the email address given in the application. Find the whole document, with its attachments.

Where a refusal carries review rights, the Migration Act requires the notice to state that the decision can be reviewed, the time in which an application for review may be made, who can apply and where. That paragraph matters more than anything else in the document.

The date you were notified, and how
The visa subclass and the provision relied on
The criterion the decision maker was not satisfied about
The review paragraph, and the date it states
Whether someone other than you may apply

If an agent, an employer or a relative lodged for you, ask them for the document itself today.

Work out which visa you hold now

If you applied from inside Australia you were probably granted a bridging visa with that application. A bridging visa decides nothing about your case. It keeps you lawful while something else is decided, and it carries conditions that may limit work.

Under the Migration Act an application is not finally determined while Tribunal review is open or under way, and bridging visas granted with an application are tied to that point. Applying in time can decide whether you hold a visa at all. Check your grant notice, check your conditions in VEVO, and read our guide to bridging visas.

If you hold no substantive visa and no bridging visa, you are unlawful. That is urgent, not paperwork.

Merits review at the Administrative Review Tribunal

Merits review is a fresh look at the same question by a body independent of the Department. For migration decisions that body is the Administrative Review Tribunal, which replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024. It can affirm a decision, vary it, set it aside and substitute another, or send the matter back.

The time limit is set by the Migration Act, not by the Tribunal. It runs from the day you were notified and is shorter if you were in immigration detention. Character decisions under section 501 run on a separate, shorter track. For migration and protection decisions the Act switches off the Tribunal’s power to extend time.

Who may apply also depends on the decision. Often it is the person refused, who must be in Australia when the application is made. For some offshore decisions it is the sponsor, the nominator or an Australian relative instead.

The Tribunal publishes the current application fee and how to ask for a reduction.

The section 48 bar

Section 48 of the Migration Act is headed Non-citizen refused a visa or whose visa cancelled may only apply for particular visas. It reaches a person in Australia who holds no substantive visa and who, since last entering the country, has had a visa refused or cancelled under one of the provisions it lists. That person may apply only for a class prescribed for the purposes of the section, and that list in the Migration Regulations is short.

The bar is about new applications, so it does not stop you seeking review of the refusal itself. A refused bridging visa does not trigger it, and refusals on character grounds under section 501 sit outside it with consequences of their own.

What changes if you leave Australia

Leaving is sometimes the right course. It is never a neutral one. For decisions on applications lodged in Australia, the Migration Act requires the person applying for review to be physically present in Australia when the application is made. A bridging visa A does not let you travel and return on it; a bridging visa B permits travel and must be granted before you go.

Section 48 turns on the words since last entering Australia, which is why people are told that leaving clears the bar. It can, but only if you can get a visa to come back, and a recent refusal is part of what the next decision maker considers.

When judicial review is the path

Judicial review is a court deciding whether a decision was made according to law. It is not a second opinion on the facts, and a court that finds an error usually sends the matter back to be decided again rather than granting a visa.

It is generally not the first step. The Migration Act keeps a decision the Tribunal could review out of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2), whether or not review was sought, so judicial review is usually about the Tribunal’s decision. The court’s limit is short and runs from the date of the decision rather than the day you read it, although the court, unlike the Tribunal, may extend it in some circumstances.

Ministerial intervention is a discretionary act by the Minister after a Tribunal decision, not a right of review.

What usually happens

Get the decision record itself

Download the full notification and its attachments from ImmiAccount or the email account used for the application. This part you can do yourself, today.

Fix the date you were notified

Not the date printed on the letter, but the date it was given to you in the way the notice describes. Every period runs from that day.

Diarise the review date

Put the date from the review paragraph in your calendar, with a reminder several days before it. Work backwards from that date rather than forwards from today.

Check your status and conditions

Read your bridging visa grant notice and check your visa and its conditions in VEVO. Changed work rights, or being unlawful, changes what has to happen this week.

Lodge in time, then build the case

You can lodge a review application yourself, and the Tribunal is set up for people who do. Being on time matters more than being elegant, because the period cannot be extended.

Common questions

How long do I have to apply for review?

The Migration Act sets the period, and it depends on the decision, on how you were notified and on where you were. Where a decision carries review rights your decision record states the time you have, and for migration and protection decisions the Tribunal cannot give you more.

The date has already passed. Is anything left?

Possibly, and it is worth asking quickly rather than assuming. How you were notified can matter, because the period runs from notification given in the way the law requires.

Can I just apply for the same visa again?

If you are in Australia holding no substantive visa, section 48 generally limits you to the classes prescribed in the Migration Regulations. If you still hold a substantive visa, that bar does not apply to you.

Do I need a lawyer for this?

Not in order to lodge. Advice is worth most where the decision record is unclear, where a bar may apply, where someone other than you is entitled to apply, or where the date has passed. Immigration assistance may be given by a registered migration agent or by an Australian legal practitioner holding an unrestricted practising certificate.

If the date is close

If the period stated in your decision record ends within the next few days, say so when you get in touch. Protecting the date comes before everything else.

Official sources

An illustration of planning a way forward.

From first question to a clear plan

The same three steps, whatever the matter is.

01 Understand

Tell us about your situation and the decision or application involved.

02 Organise

Gather the documents and the questions relevant to your consultation.

03 Plan

Discuss the available options and the next steps with the legal team.