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Your visa or citizenship application was refused? Find out what the refusal means, your options, and how to apply for a review. Deadlines are short and strict.
Visa and citizenship refusals
Everything about a refused visa or citizenship application: what it means, your options and how to ask for a review. Choose a topic below.
Visa refusals
A refusal means the Department of Home Affairs decided you did not meet one or more of the legal criteria for the visa. It is not always the end. Depending on your situation you may be able to ask the Administrative Review Tribunal to look at the decision again, make a new application, or take other steps. What you do in the first days matters most.
Keep the email or envelope the decision came in. The date you were notified decides your deadline.
Your options
The right option depends on the visa, where you are, your visa status and the reasons for refusal. We look at all of them before you decide.
If the letter gives you review rights, you can ask the Administrative Review Tribunal to decide your case again on its merits, with new evidence. See how to apply below.
Sometimes a fresh, stronger application is better than a review. If you are in Australia and were refused while you had no substantive visa, section 48 may only allow certain visas, such as partner or protection visas, to be applied for in Australia.
For some visas, leaving and applying offshore is the best or only path. Leaving can affect review rights and other options, so get advice first.
If you apply for review in time, a bridging visa A or E linked to the refused application usually continues until 35 days after the Tribunal decides. If you have no bridging visa, you may need to apply for a bridging visa E.
You may be able to seek judicial review in the courts if the Tribunal made a legal error, or ask the Minister to intervene in exceptional cases.
Some refusals, such as many visitor and offshore refusals without a sponsor, cannot be reviewed. A new application that fixes the problem is usually the way forward.
How to apply for a review
A review application must be lodged with the Tribunal, and the fee paid, before the deadline. The Tribunal cannot accept a late migration review application.
Fees change each 1 July. The protection fee is not payable in immigration detention and is fully refunded if the review succeeds.
Your decision letter says whether the decision can be reviewed and the time limit. The time runs from when you are taken to have received the decision: the end of the day it was emailed or put in ImmiAccount, or 7 working days after the date of a letter posted in Australia.
If you were refused in Australia, you apply. If the applicant was outside Australia, the Australian sponsor or nominator usually applies. Some refusals cannot be reviewed at all.
The application is lodged with the Administrative Review Tribunal online, with a copy of the decision letter and your contact details. If we act for you, we lodge it as your authorised representative.
For a migration review, the fee, or at least half of it if you are asking for a hardship reduction, must be paid by the deadline or the application is not valid.
The Tribunal obtains the Department's file. We review it, then send written submissions and new evidence that answer each reason for refusal.
Most migration reviews have a hearing where you give evidence, with a free interpreter if you need one. The Tribunal can affirm the refusal, send the case back to the Department with directions, or make a new decision.
Citizenship refusals
Most decisions to refuse Australian citizenship by conferral can be reviewed by the Administrative Review Tribunal. Your decision letter tells you whether you can apply for review and the time limit, usually 28 days.
A Tribunal fee applies. A reduction may be available for financial hardship, and part of the fee is refunded if the review succeeds.
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Time limits run from the date you are taken to have received the decision, and most cannot be extended. For most migration and protection decisions the limit is 28 days; it is shorter if you are in immigration detention or the visa was refused on character grounds. Contact us as soon as you receive a decision.
The ART replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024. It can review many visa and citizenship refusals on their merits, look at new evidence and make a fresh decision.
Most reviews include a hearing where you give evidence. We prepare written submissions, gather new evidence and prepare you and your witnesses for the hearing.
Time limits
These are the usual limits. The deadline in your decision letter is the one that applies to you.
The date you received the decision is important. Keep the email or envelope.
Printable checklists →The review process
The application is lodged with the Administrative Review Tribunal within the time limit, with the decision letter and the fee where one applies.
We obtain the Department's file, identify why the application failed and gather new evidence that addresses each issue.
We send the Tribunal legal submissions explaining why the criteria are met, with the supporting evidence.
You give evidence to a Tribunal Member, in person, by video or by phone. The Tribunal provides interpreters free of charge.
The Tribunal affirms, varies, sets aside or remits the decision, and gives written reasons.
Possible outcomes
The Tribunal agrees with the Department and the refusal stands.
The Tribunal changes the decision or replaces it with a new decision of its own.
The Tribunal sends the matter back to the Department to decide again, usually with directions, for example that you meet a particular criterion.
Ministerial intervention
After a Tribunal decision, the Minister has personal, non-compellable powers to grant a visa in the public interest. The Minister does not have to consider a request, and the guidelines are narrow.
Requests usually rely on strong compassionate circumstances, such as Australian citizen children, serious health conditions, or circumstances not considered by the Tribunal.
Judicial review
If the Tribunal made a legal error, you may be able to seek judicial review in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, usually within 35 days of the decision. The court does not reconsider the merits; it decides whether the law was applied correctly. We work with migration lawyers and barristers on court matters.
Judicial review of most Tribunal migration decisions, with further appeals to the Federal Court and, with special leave, the High Court.
Questions
In most cases, if you held a bridging visa linked to your application, it continues while the review is pending. Check your bridging visa conditions with us, especially before you travel.
Yes. Merits review looks at your case afresh, so you can provide new documents and information. This is often the most important part of a successful review.
Most migration reviews have an application fee, and half is refunded if the review succeeds. A reduction may be available in cases of financial hardship. For protection visa decisions made on or after 1 November 2026, a fee of half the standard amount is payable upfront when you apply, unless you are in immigration detention, and it is fully refunded if the review succeeds.
It varies with the type of case and the Tribunal's workload, from several months to longer. In some situations the Tribunal can be asked to prioritise a case.
If you don't attend a hearing you were invited to, the Tribunal can decide your case without hearing from you. Tell the Tribunal immediately if you can't attend.
Options can include judicial review for legal error within 35 days, a request for ministerial intervention, or another visa. Restrictions on further visa applications in Australia may apply, so get advice before you act.
Send us the decision letter today so we can check your deadline and options.
