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We understand that the visa application process is not without its share of hurdles.
Receiving a refusal notification regarding your visa application can be a stressful experience.
Having a visa refused not only puts you in a financial, emotional, and mental distress, but can also affect your future visa application outcomes.
When you have been notified that your visa (or nomination) application has been refused or cancelled, and you are not prepared to accept it, we are here to help. A refusal or cancellation may not necessarily mean the end of the road for your future in Australia.
To maximise your chances of avoiding a visa refusal, it is crucial to get sound legal advice from experienced immigration advisors.
We are experienced immigration lawyers who can advise you on your options
and what you can do to improve your chances of a successful outcome. We have
a wealth of experience in dealing with refusals and cancellations, and will be working with you to take the necessary steps to ensure that your application is successful.
The 5 most common reasons for the refusal of visa applications include the following:
Several temporary visas have genuine temporary entrant (GTE) criteria. You must genuinely intend to stay temporarily in Australia on your temporary visa, for example on a visitor or a student visa.
The Department must be satisfied that if your temporary visa has been granted, you will obey all the visa conditions imposed on your visa and will depart Australia before your visitor visa expires (unless you are granted another visa to remain in Australia).
For a visitor visa, for example, you must demonstrate that you have intentions to comply with the visa conditions, and as part of the assessment of your application, the Department may consider evidence which may suggest that while in Australia you may:
The Department may also consider your employment and financial circumstances, the economic situation in your home country (including employment
opportunities and living conditions), your compliance with the previous visa conditions, incentives to remain in Australia as well as the incentives to return to your home country.
To avoid visa application refusal, the temporary visa applicants may consider submitting a genuine temporary entrant (GTE) statement along with their visa application. A GTE statement is like a personal statement that addresses your reasons for visiting Australia and provides an indication of how you intend to stay temporarily in Australia.
However, a word of caution for the visa applicants – generic and poorly drafted GTE statements may affect your visa application’s strength which may also impact your future visa applications.
At Visa & Citizenship Lawyers, we understand the importance of having a strong GTE statement. We regularly assist our clients with their GTE statements to ensure that a consistent, well-structured and evidence-based statement is submitted to the Department of Home Affairs to avoid any unnecessary visa processing delays.
Need assistance with your GTE statement? Contact us today!
For some visas, such as Skilled Nominated visa (Subclass 190), Skilled Independent visa (Subclass 189) and Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (Subclass 188), you must satisfy the ‘points test’.
You can claim points for your age, proficiency in English, work experience outside and in Australia, qualifications, accreditation in a community language, time spent studying in regional Australia as well as the relevant skills of your partner.
To apply for a ‘points tested’ visa, the application process involves lodging an expression of interest (EOI) via SkillSelect. Based on the information that you provide on SkillSelect, you will receive an estimate of total ‘points’ that you claim to have.
If you are invited to apply for a points tested visa, you must prove the claims that you make in your EOI when the Department of Home Affairs is assessing your application.
Your score must not be less than the score claimed in the invitation to apply for the visa and must not be less than the qualifying score of at least 65 points.
This means that if you claimed 80 points in your EOI, you must not score less than this when you are invited to apply for the visa and must be able to provide evidence to support your points claimed.
Your visa application may be refused if you overclaim or miscalculate your points and are not able to support your claim of points. Further, if you provide false or misleading information, your visa application may be refused.
Having a visa refusal can have serious consequences on your future visa applications. Do not play with your points tested visa applications by overclaiming your points. Get professional assistance with calculating your points from our experienced immigration lawyers today.
At Visa & Citizenship Lawyers, we regularly assist clients with assessing their eligibility and points for various Independent and Skilled Regional (Provisional) visas, State and Territory nominated visas, and Business Innovation and Investment visas.
Has your visa application been refused on grounds of overclaiming points, and you are not prepared to accept it? You may still have options. Contact our friendly team today for assistance!
You must meet certain health requirements to visit and live in Australia. The purpose of this requirement is to protect the Australian community from various threats to public health and to limit the public expenditure on health and community services.
As part of your visa application, you may be required to undergo a health examination to determine if you meet the health requirements.
To decide whether a health examination is required, the Department of Home Affairs may consider the following factor:
If you do not satisfy the health requirements, your visa application may be refused.
Are you worried about meeting the health requirements or concerned about having a health history that may result in visa refusal? We can also provide you an overview of the health examination and guide you through the process. If you have received a visa refusal on not satisfying the health requirements, you may still have options depending on your circumstance.
Reach out to our friendly team today for assistance with your visitor visa application.
You must not provide false or misleading information with your visitor visa application. This includes submission of any bogus or counterfeit documents.
Some examples of false or misleading information may include the following:
Of course, if you have made an innocent mistake in your visa application, you may not fail to satisfy the criteria, but you must rectify the mistake as soon as possible so that information is no longer incorrect and potentially misleading.
Your visa application may be refused if the Department finds that the visa application lacks integrity due to the submission of untruthful information.
At Visa & Citizenship Lawyers, we understand that visa applications are not easy even for those who consider English to be their first language. Do not take unnecessary risks by playing with your visa application – a minor oversight or incorrect understanding of a question in your visa application can cost you your chances of visiting and living in Australia.
Reach out to our experienced team today for assistance with your visitor visa application.
To visit or live in Australia, you must be of a good character. This means you must pass the character test and continue to remain of good character.
You will not pass the character test if:
*What is a ‘substantial criminal record’?
In relation to the ‘character test’ mentioned above, under section 501(7) of the Migration Act 1958, a person is considered to have a ‘substantial criminal record’ if they have been:
Failure to meet the character test may result in the refusal of your visa application.
Have you received a visa refusal for failing to satisfy the character test? This may not be the end of your journey to Australia.
But you will need to act fast.
From appropriately responding to the Department of Home Affairs to appealing to the Tribunal and Federal Court, contact our experienced immigration lawyers today to understand your available options and get the right assistance with your visa application.
Have you received a notice from the Department of Home Affairs requesting further information?
Have you just received a letter from the Department requesting further information (Section 56 Letter) or have you been invited to comment on information (Section 57 Letter)?
When your visa application has been picked up for processing, the case officer assessing your application may request some additional information before making a decision.
Section 56 Letter
According to section 56 of the Migration Act 1958, the Minister may request further information in considering your visa application. The Minister must have regard to that information in making the decision whether to grant or refuse the visa.
Section 57 Letter (or ‘Natural Justice Letter’)
Under section 57 of the Migration Act 1958, the Department must invite the visa applicant to comment on information that is considered to be:
The Section 57 Letter is also known as the ‘Natural Justice Letter’ and the response to this letter by the visa applicant will be considered while deciding whether to refuse or grant the visa or not.
There are strict time limits in which you must provide the requested information (unless an extension is granted) for Section 56 Letter as well as the Natural Justice Letter. If you do not provide the requested information, your visa application may be processed without it and may be refused without the required supporting evidence.
While responding to such requests for further information or the Natural Justice Letter, you must provide accurate information. A wrong or a poorly worded response may not help your situation.
At Visa & Citizenship Lawyers, we regularly assist clients with responding to the requests for further information as well as the Natural Justice Letter. We work with our clients to ensure that a proper and strong response is submitted to the Department to strengthen our clients’ case.
Book a consultation with Visa & Citizenship Lawyers today to get the right assistance with your response to the Department.
When you receive a refusal decision from the Department, depending on your individual circumstances, possible options available to you may include:
As each visa refusal decision is different, you must read your refusal notification carefully as the notification will inform you about your right to appeal, the timeframe to lodge an appeal and the relevant body (for example, Tribunal) you should take your appeal to.
Re-lodging a new application or appealing the decision to a Court may be options to you only in certain circumstances. You will need to speak to Visa & Citizenship Lawyers to assess what are the options available in your particular circumstances.
At Visa & Citizenship Lawyers, we regularly assist visa applicants who have had a previous visa refused.
For example, many student and visitor visas are refused because the Department of Home Affairs are not satisfied that the visa applicant meets the Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) criteria.
Under the GTE criteria, it important that you must genuinely intend to stay temporarily in Australia on your temporary visa. The Department of Home Affairs must be satisfied that if your temporary visa is granted, you will obey all the visa conditions imposed on your visa and will depart Australia before your visa expires (unless you are granted another visa to remain in Australia).
If your visa has been refused on the GTE grounds, depending on your circumstances, our friendly team will assist you with crafting an evidenced-backed GTE statement for a new visa application.
We work closely with visa applicants to address why the visa was refused and carefully construct submissions to support any new application(s).
After carefully assessing your circumstances, our experienced immigration lawyers will also provide you with other visa options that may be relevant to you based on your intentions to visit Australia. You will receive full guidance and professional support throughout the application process.
Example*
Gim lives in Brisbane and is an Australian permanent resident after marrying Bob, an Australian citizen. Gim lodges a Visitor Visa Application as a sponsor on behalf of her father to visit Australia. The visitor visa is refused. Gim and Bob engage Visa & Citizenship Lawyers and Visa & Citizenship Lawyers suggest that the best course of action would be to prepare and lodge a new Visitor Visa Application with careful legal assistance.
Gim and Bob engage Visa & Citizenship Lawyers’ professional services to prepare and lodge a new Visitor Visa Application. The new Visitor Visa Application includes a lot more evidence than the original application and is supported by well drafted Statutory Declarations that Visa & Citizenship Lawyers prepared addressing the Genuine Temporary Entrant criteria. The Visitor Visa Application is submitted and 3 weeks later, Gim’s father is granted a visa and visits Gim in Brisbane.
Receiving a notification that your visa application has been refused can be stressful.
If the Department of Home Affairs refuses your visa, depending on your circumstances, you may consider applying for an appeal of the decision at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Tribunal).
The Tribunal has strict time limitations and if you do not lodge a review application with the Tribunal in time, it will be what is known as an ‘invalid application’. If it is an invalid application, you will have no review rights at the Tribunal.
One of the benefits of having your matter reviewed at the Tribunal is that the Tribunal is not a part of the Department of Home Affairs who refused the visa.
For example, if your visitor visa was refused on the GTE ground, then the Tribunal will decide whether you genuinely intend to stay temporarily in Australia for the purposes of the visitor visa.
To support your case, you may be able to submit evidence to the Tribunal, for example:
A refusal decision from the Department of Home Affairs can come as an unpleasant surprise. Plus, going to the Tribunal can often be a complex process. We regularly assist clients with their Tribunal review applications, and our friendly and experienced immigration lawyers can help you with appealing your visa refusal decision to the Tribunal.
We will work with you to assess your visa refusal decision and inform you of the strengths and weaknesses of your case. We can assist you with explaining the Tribunal review process, preparing evidence-backed and structured appeal application and submissions.
We will attend the Tribunal hearing with you and present your case before the Tribunal Member. If required, we can assist with drafting further detailed submissions before the Tribunal Member has made their decision.
If you are not ready to accept the visa refusal decision from the Department of Home Affairs, contact us today to learn more about your available options!
Example*
Victor is a citizen of the Philippines, he was in Melbourne on a student visa and had been working as a mechanic for Fast Cars Pty Ltd. Fast Cars were impressed with Victor and wanted to sponsor him on a work visa, so Fast Cars lodged a 482 nomination application and visa application. The nomination application was approved however the visa application was refused as the Department of Home Affairs decided that Victor did not meet the skill level requirement.
Fast Cars and Victor engaged Visa & Citizenship Lawyers to review the refusal and it was decided to appeal the 482 visa application refusal to the Tribunal. Victor remained working for Fast Cars for the next year and a half until the matter was finally heard at the Tribunal. At the Tribunal it was found that Victor did have the required skill level for the visa and he was granted a 482 visa.
If the Tribunal agrees with the decision of the Department of Home Affairs to refuse your visitor visa application, you may be able to appeal to the Federal Court. However, during this appeal, you will need to show that the Tribunal made a ‘jurisdiction error’ in conducting your case, including whether correct legal procedures were followed and whether the law was applied correctly in the assessment by the Tribunal.
If the Federal Court finds that there was a jurisdictional error by the Tribunal, then the Federal Court may send your matter or case back to the decision maker. The Federal Court cannot grant you a visa.
There are strict time limits, and depending on your circumstances, you must file an application with the Federal Court for review within 35 days of the date of your migration decision.
Do not play with your visa refusal decision! As this can be a complex process which can be time consuming, it is recommended that you seek legal advice from experienced immigration lawyers before you appeal to the Federal Court.
Are you not satisfied with the Tribunal’s decision? We are here to help you.
We can assist you with understanding the Tribunal decision in detail, assessing your situation, and providing you with available options. Based on our assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your case, we can guide you through the appealing process to the Federal Court as well as provide professional support in preparing evidence for the Court hearing. We can also assist you with attending the Court hearing and presenting your case before the Court.
If required, we will also help you with applying for a new bridging visa for you so that you can remain lawful in Australia.
Contact our friendly team today to explore your options and next steps!
Example*
Ezang attended the Tribunal hearing in Sydney and the Tribunal upheld the protection visa application refusal decision made earlier by the Department of Home Affairs. Ezang engages Visa & Citizenship Lawyers to see whether he can appeal the Tribunal decision to the Court. Visa & Citizenship Lawyers assess the Tribunal’s decision and inform Ezang that there appears to be jurisdictional error in the Tribunal’s decision and that there appears to be a reasonable chance of success in appealing on jurisdictional error grounds.
Ezang instructs Visa & Citizenship Lawyers to lodge an appeal application with the Court. Visa & Citizenship Lawyers prepare for and are successful at the Court hearing where the Court makes a decision to quash the Tribunal’s decision as it was found to be not lawfully made. The case is referred back to the Tribunal to be reconsidered in accordance with the Court’s directions about the law.
The experienced and friendly team at Visa & Citizenship Lawyers are here to help you. We will work with you and guide you through the entire process, including assessing your eligibility for other appropriate visas based on your circumstances and assisting you with the visa application process and working with you to address the common reasons of visa refusals.
We will also assist you with:
Time is of essence! Do not leave responding to the visa refusal decision to the last day.
Contact our team today to explore your available options.
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The information provided in these pages is general in nature and should not be relied upon in place of legal advice based on your own circumstances. Liability Limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. Privacy Policy.
