Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne

Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne are lawyers who take responsibility for a Subclass 866 Protection visa application from the first assessment of the applicant's claims to the decision of the Department of Home Affairs, and beyond it to the Administrative Review Tribunal if the visa is refused. My Migration Lawyers acts as Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne for people who are already in Australia, living in Melbourne or elsewhere in Victoria on student, visitor and other temporary visas, and who fear serious harm if they return to the country of their nationality.

This article describes what Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne do at each stage of an onshore Subclass 866 matter: the assessment against section 36(2)(a) and section 36(2)(aa) of the Migration Act 1958, identity and immigration history, the statement of claims, supporting evidence and country information, Form 866 and lodgement, the bridging visa, the Department's requests and interview, and the position if the visa is refused. It also explains how My Migration Lawyers, led by Weiwei Zhang, Principal Lawyer, acts for Melbourne clients from Sydney.

It is written for the person who is deciding whether to engage Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne, and for the classmate, relative or partner who is helping them decide. It is not a guide to the law itself. The law is set out on the firm's protection visa lawyers service page and in the firm's guide to the Subclass 866 Protection visa.

Which Melbourne applicants engage Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne?

Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne are engaged by people who are in Melbourne on a temporary basis, lawfully or otherwise, and who cannot safely go home. Three situations account for most Melbourne enquiries, and each presents a different problem to manage.

The first is the international student. Melbourne has a very large population of students enrolled at universities, TAFE institutes and private colleges in the city and at campuses in Clayton, Footscray, Box Hill and Geelong. A student's circumstances at home can change after arrival: a political event, a family learning of the student's sexuality or religious conversion, or a relative's involvement with a group that draws the attention of the authorities. The student is usually lawful, often with a visa that still has time to run, and Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne must advise on whether and when to lodge, on what the application means for the student's course and visa conditions, and on the consequences of lodging while a substantive visa is still in force. The firm's article on international students and the Subclass 866 Protection visa explains the position in detail.

The second is the visitor visa holder. Many people arrive on a visitor visa to stay with family in Springvale, Dandenong, Sunshine or St Kilda and learn while they are here that it is no longer safe to return. A visitor visa is short and may carry condition 8503. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne explain that condition 8503 does not prevent a protection visa application, because the condition itself excludes protection visas from the visas it bars, but that the application must still be made before the visitor visa ceases if the applicant is to hold a Bridging Visa A rather than a Bridging Visa E. The firm's article on moving from a tourist visa to a Subclass 866 Protection visa covers the sequence.

The third is the person who arrived on another temporary visa, such as a working holiday, temporary graduate or temporary skilled visa, which has since expired or been cancelled, and who may be living in Werribee or Craigieburn without any visa at all. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne treat this matter as urgent, because an unlawful non-citizen is liable to detention, the application will produce a Bridging Visa E rather than a Bridging Visa A, and the period of unlawfulness will need to be explained in the application.

In all three situations, the applicant's account of why they fear harm is the centre of the matter. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne are engaged because the criteria in section 36 of the Migration Act 1958 are demanding and an applicant who has never read the Act cannot know which parts of their own history the decision maker will need to hear.

Why do Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne start with identity and immigration history?

Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne start every Subclass 866 matter with identity and immigration history because section 91W and section 91WA of the Migration Act 1958 make identity a gateway issue, and because an undisclosed refusal or a false statement on an earlier visa can end a protection visa application regardless of the strength of the claims.

The identity work begins with documents. Section 91W allows the Minister to request documentary evidence of identity, nationality or citizenship, and an applicant who refuses or fails to comply without a reasonable explanation, or who produces a bogus document, faces refusal. Section 91WA requires refusal where a bogus document has been provided as evidence of identity unless the applicant has a reasonable explanation and has produced genuine documents or taken reasonable steps to do so. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne examine every passport, identity card, birth certificate and travel document the applicant holds, ask how each was obtained, and identify any document a decision maker might question. Where the applicant left home without documents, or with documents obtained irregularly because that was the only way to leave, the explanation is taken down early in the applicant's own words.

The immigration history work is done by the firm itself. My Migration Lawyers runs the Visa Entitlement Verification Online check, obtains the applicant's visa and travel history from the Department, and asks for every visa application the applicant has made anywhere, including applications refused or withdrawn in other countries. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne look for three things: a previous protection visa application in Australia, which would engage the bar in section 48A; any earlier statement to the Department inconsistent with the claims now to be made, such as an answer on a visitor visa application about the intention to return; and any character question under public interest criterion 4001 or section 501 of the Migration Act 1958.

This stage also settles the applicant's current visa position. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne confirm whether the applicant is lawful, on what visa, with what conditions and until what date. That answer determines whether the applicant will hold a Bridging Visa A on lodgement or a Bridging Visa E, whether work rights will be available while the application is decided, and how quickly the statement of claims must be finished. The firm's guide to protection visa eligibility sets out the threshold issues that this first stage resolves.

The outcome of this stage is a written letter of advice and document checklist, delivered after the consultation and before any application work begins, stating what the identity evidence and immigration history show, the risks they create and how the firm proposes to deal with each.

How do Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne assess a claim against section 36(2)(a) and section 36(2)(aa)?

Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne assess a claim by taking the applicant's full account and testing it, element by element, against the refugee criterion in section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958 and the complementary protection criterion in section 36(2)(aa). This is the central legal task on the matter, and it is done before a single word of the application is drafted.

The refugee criterion requires that the applicant is a refugee as defined in section 5H. That means the applicant is outside the country of their nationality and, owing to a well-founded fear of persecution, is unable or unwilling to return. Section 5J sets out what a well-founded fear means: a real chance of persecution, for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, in all areas of the country. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne identify which of the five grounds the applicant's account engages, whether the harm feared amounts to serious harm, whether the feared persecutor is the State or a group the State cannot or will not control, and whether the account answers the relocation and effective protection questions in section 5J.

The complementary protection criterion in section 36(2)(aa) applies where the applicant is not a refugee but there are substantial grounds for believing that, as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal, there is a real risk the applicant will suffer significant harm. Section 36(2A) defines significant harm as arbitrary deprivation of life, the death penalty, torture, cruel or inhuman treatment or punishment, or degrading treatment or punishment. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne assess complementary protection on every matter, not only where the refugee criterion looks weak, because a fear of harm from a family member, a criminal group or a private individual may not fit one of the five Convention grounds but may satisfy section 36(2)(aa). The firm's page on complementary protection explains the criterion.

The assessment also covers section 36(3), under which Australia does not owe protection obligations to a person who has not taken all possible steps to avail themselves of a right to enter and reside in a third country. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne ask about every other nationality, residence right or citizenship by descent the applicant may hold, because an unaddressed third country right defeats the application.

The result is a written assessment that identifies the grounds relied on, the elements the account already satisfies, the elements it does not yet address, and the evidence needed for each. The applicant reads it, corrects it and decides which claims to advance. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne advise on the strength of each claim; the applicant decides what is put forward, because the claims are theirs.

Who writes the statement of claims when Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne act?

The applicant writes the statement of claims, because it is the applicant's own evidence, and Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne then review, test and correct it. My Migration Lawyers does not write an applicant's account for them. A statement that reads like a lawyer's submission is less persuasive than one that reads like the person who lived it, and it exposes the applicant at interview to questions about words they did not choose.

Section 5AAA of the Migration Act 1958 places the responsibility on the applicant to specify all particulars of their claim and to provide sufficient evidence to establish it, and the Minister has no obligation to assist. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne explain this at the first consultation, because it changes how the statement is written. Every incident, every threat, every arrest, every period of hiding and every reason the applicant believes they were targeted must be in the statement in the applicant's words, with dates, places and names wherever the applicant can give them.

The process begins with the applicant writing a first account, in their own language if they prefer, which is translated by an accredited translator. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne read that account against the legal assessment and identify what is missing: an element of section 5J not addressed, the relocation and effective protection questions not answered, a gap in the chronology, the reason the applicant did not leave sooner or did not claim protection in a country they passed through. Those gaps are put to the applicant as questions, never as suggested answers, and the applicant's answers go into the statement.

The statement is then tested for consistency against everything else the Department already holds or will hold: the visitor or student visa application, the arrival card, the Form 866 answers, the identity documents and any earlier statement to any government. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne resolve every difference in a date, a place or an account of events before lodgement, because inconsistency between the statement and an earlier document is the most frequent basis on which a delegate doubts credibility. The firm's guide to the protection visa statement of claims explains how a statement is structured.

Finally, the statement is read back to the applicant in full, in their language where needed, and the applicant confirms that every sentence is true and complete. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne also advise the applicant that a claim held back now and raised only at the Administrative Review Tribunal may be given less weight under section 423A unless there is a reasonable explanation for the delay, so the time to disclose everything is before lodgement.

What supporting evidence and country information do Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne gather?

Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne gather two kinds of evidence: evidence personal to the applicant that corroborates the statement of claims, and country information that shows the conditions in the country of nationality are as the applicant describes. Both are organised around the elements of section 36 that the assessment identified as needing support.

Personal evidence is whatever exists that shows the applicant is who they say they are and that the events they describe happened. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne ask for police and court records, medical records, photographs of injuries, threatening messages with their original metadata, social media posts and the responses to them, membership records of a party, church, mosque or organisation, letters from religious or community leaders, and statements from witnesses in Australia or overseas who know what happened. Where a witness in Melbourne can speak to the applicant's religious practice, sexuality or political activity since arrival, the firm takes a statement from that witness in the witness's own words. The firm's guide to protection visa evidence and its protection visa documents checklist set out what is commonly available.

Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne are also honest about the absence of documents. Many genuine applicants have none, because a person fleeing does not stop to collect paperwork, and the statement then carries the weight. A single fabricated or embellished document, on the other hand, can destroy a genuine claim through section 91WA or public interest criterion 4020, and nothing is lodged that the applicant cannot vouch for.

Country information is gathered to answer the specific questions the assessment raised. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne use the Department's own country information reports, reports of the United Nations refugee agency and human rights bodies, and reputable current reporting, and they select material that speaks to the applicant's actual profile: the treatment of a particular religious minority in a particular province, the enforcement of laws against same-sex relationships, the reach of a particular political movement, or the ability of the police to protect a person from a particular group. General reports that a country has problems are of little use; the criterion requires material showing that the applicant's specific profile faces a real chance of serious harm that relocation would not remove. The firm's pages on religious persecution claims and on protection visas for LGBTI applicants illustrate how country information is matched to a profile.

Each piece of evidence is indexed to the element of section 36 it supports, and Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne write a covering submission that takes the delegate from the applicant's profile, through the country information, to the conclusion that section 36(2)(a) or section 36(2)(aa) is satisfied. The submission is the lawyer's work. The evidence and the statement are the applicant's.

How do Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne lodge Form 866 and secure the bridging visa?

Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne lodge the Subclass 866 application on Form 866 once the statement, evidence and submission are complete and consistent, and confirm the bridging visa immediately after lodgement. Lodgement is timed to the applicant's visa position, not treated as a formality.

Form 866 asks for personal details, family, travel history, employment, education, every visa held or refused, and the reasons the applicant fears returning. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne complete the form with the applicant and check every answer against the statement of claims and the identity documents, because the form is itself a statement to the Department and any inconsistency will be put to the applicant at interview. The firm's guide to Form 866 and the protection visa application explains each part of the form.

The timing question is decided with the applicant. A lawful applicant who lodges before their substantive visa ceases is granted a Bridging Visa A that takes effect when the substantive visa ends, usually with the work rights that attach to it. An applicant who is already unlawful at lodgement is granted a Bridging Visa E, which may carry conditions on work and reporting and which the Department can grant on terms that reflect the applicant's history. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne advise a lawful applicant, for example a student in Clayton whose visa still has time to run, on the consequences of lodging before that visa ends, and they move quickly for an applicant who is already unlawful so that the period without a visa is as short as possible.

The application is lodged online through ImmiAccount, with the statement, submission, identity documents, personal evidence and country information attached in an order the delegate can follow and indexed to the criteria. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne also lodge the Form 956 appointment so that the Department corresponds with the firm, then confirm the bridging visa grant, check its conditions and explain them to the applicant in writing.

After lodgement the firm advises the applicant on the obligations that now apply: to keep the Department informed of any change of address, to attend any health or biometrics appointment, to comply with bridging visa conditions, and to tell the firm at once about any change in circumstances that bears on the claims. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne remain the applicant's point of contact with the Department from lodgement to decision.

What do Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne do between lodgement and the interview?

Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne manage every piece of correspondence from the Department between lodgement and decision, and they prepare the applicant for the interview if one is scheduled. Not every applicant is interviewed. Under Department policy, a delegate may decide a Subclass 866 application on the papers, and that is more likely where the statement and evidence are complete, so the quality of what was lodged determines much of what happens next.

A request under section 56 of the Migration Act 1958 is the Department asking for more information or documents. It carries a deadline that is short and strictly applied, and the request must be answered fully and on time. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne read the request for what it reveals about the delegate's concerns, obtain what is asked for, and prepare a response that addresses the concern behind the request rather than only its literal terms. The firm's guide to responding to a section 56 request for more information explains how such a request is handled.

A letter under section 57 is different and more serious. It means the Department holds information that would be a reason, or part of a reason, to refuse the visa, and it is giving the applicant the opportunity to comment before it decides. That information may be an inconsistency with the visitor visa application, a country report that contradicts the statement, a document the Department believes is not genuine, or information from a third party. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne treat a section 57 letter as the most important piece of legal work on the matter after the statement itself, take detailed instructions from the applicant on every point raised, and respond with evidence and submissions within the deadline.

Where an interview is scheduled, Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne prepare the applicant for it. The interview is conducted by a delegate, which may be by video, with an interpreter where needed, and the firm attends. Preparation is not rehearsal. The applicant re-reads their own statement, understands the elements of section 36 the delegate must decide, expects the chronology and any inconsistency to be tested, and knows to ask for a question to be repeated rather than guess. The firm's page on the protection visa interview and its guide to protection visa interview preparation describe how the day runs.

After the interview, Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne lodge a post-interview submission where a point put to the applicant needs further evidence or explanation, and file any updated country information, because the delegate decides on the position at the time of decision.

What do Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne do if the Subclass 866 is refused?

Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne read the refusal decision on the day it arrives, advise the applicant on review at the Administrative Review Tribunal, and lodge the review application within the deadline, which is short, strictly applied and cannot be extended. A refusal is not the end of the matter, but the time to act on it is measured in days, not weeks.

The decision record sets out which claims were accepted and rejected, the credibility findings, the country information relied on and the conclusion on each of section 36(2)(a) and section 36(2)(aa). Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne go through every finding with the applicant and identify what can be met with further evidence, what turns on a misunderstanding of the account, and what the Tribunal will need to hear. The firm's article on what to do when a protection visa is refused explains the review pathway.

Review at the Administrative Review Tribunal is a fresh consideration of the application. The Tribunal is not bound by the delegate's findings, hears from the applicant directly and can take new evidence. Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne prepare a further statement from the applicant responding to each adverse finding, gather the evidence the refusal showed was needed, update the country information and draft written submissions. Where a claim was not raised before the Department, the firm explains section 423A, under which the Tribunal must draw an inference unfavourable to the credibility of a new claim raised at review unless the applicant has a reasonable explanation for not raising it earlier. The firm's guide to the Administrative Review Tribunal hearing on a protection visa describes the hearing itself.

Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne also explain the bar in section 48A of the Migration Act 1958 at the outset, not only after a refusal. Section 48A provides that a person refused a protection visa in Australia may not make a further protection visa application while in Australia unless the Minister personally decides to lift the bar. In practical terms there is one protection visa application. That is why the firm insists on complete disclosure, complete evidence and a consistent statement before lodgement, and why review at the Tribunal is pursued on every refused matter where the applicant wishes to continue.

Does a Melbourne applicant need Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne with a Melbourne office?

No. A Melbourne applicant does not need a lawyer with a Melbourne office, and My Migration Lawyers does not have one. The firm's only office is at Level 1, 60 Martin Place, Sydney NSW 2000, and it acts as Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne for applicants across Melbourne and Victoria from there.

Nothing about a protection visa application is local. The criteria are in the Migration Act 1958 and the Migration Regulations 1994, which are Commonwealth law and apply identically in Melbourne, Sydney and everywhere else in Australia. Form 866 is lodged online through ImmiAccount. The Department of Home Affairs processes protection visa applications centrally, and the interview, where one is held, is arranged by the Department at a time and by a means it chooses. There is no step in the matter at which the applicant and the lawyer must be in the same room.

My Migration Lawyers conducts every consultation by Zoom and exchanges documents through a secure client portal. An applicant in Dandenong, Springvale, Footscray, Box Hill, Glen Waverley, St Kilda, Sunshine, Clayton, Werribee, Craigieburn or Geelong attends the same consultation, receives the same letter of advice and checklist, and has the same lawyer responsible for the matter as an applicant in Sydney. An interpreter joins where the applicant prefers to speak in their own language. The firm's article on choosing a protection visa lawyer for a Melbourne matter sets out what to look for.

The question a Melbourne applicant should ask is not where Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne sit but how many Subclass 866 matters they have run, who will do the work, and whether the fee is fixed and set out in writing before the work begins.

How My Migration Lawyers acts as Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne

My Migration Lawyers acts as Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne for applicants across Melbourne and Victoria who are already in Australia and who fear returning to the country of their nationality. The firm's protection visa practice is led by Weiwei Zhang, Principal Lawyer, who is responsible for the assessment, the advice, the review of the statement of claims and the submissions on the firm's Subclass 866 matters.

The firm acts in a large number of matters of exactly this kind: Subclass 866 applications by international students at Melbourne institutions, by visitor visa holders staying with family, and by people who arrived on working holiday, graduate or other temporary visas and can no longer go home. Matters complicated by an expired visa, a condition 8503, an inconsistent earlier visa application, missing identity documents, claims that fall under complementary protection rather than the refugee criterion, or a refusal now before the Administrative Review Tribunal are the firm's ordinary work. My Migration Lawyers is equipped to run them.

On every Subclass 866 matter, My Migration Lawyers provides a written letter of advice and a document checklist after the consultation, runs the Visa Entitlement Verification Online check and obtains the immigration history itself, assesses the claims against section 36(2)(a) and section 36(2)(aa), reviews and corrects the applicant's statement of claims, gathers the personal evidence and the country information, drafts the covering submission, lodges Form 866, confirms the bridging visa, answers every section 56 request and section 57 letter, attends the interview and, if the visa is refused, runs the review at the Administrative Review Tribunal. Fees are fixed per matter and set out in a costs agreement before work begins. Every consultation is by Zoom, and Melbourne clients are served in exactly the same way as clients anywhere else in Australia.

An applicant in Melbourne who wants Protection Visa Lawyers Melbourne to assess their claims can request a consultation with My Migration Lawyers through the firm's online form. The firm's Subclass 866 Protection visa page explains the criteria in more detail.