Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals

Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals are Subclass 866 permanent visas for people from Pakistan who are already in Australia and who fear persecution or serious harm if they return. The legal test is the same for every nationality. What differs is the evidence, and Pakistan raises its own issues: blasphemy laws, sectarian violence, honour crimes and a sustained crackdown on political opposition.

This guide explains how claims for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals are assessed. It covers who applies, which claims are realistic, how the Department uses country information, why claims fail, and what happens at interview and on review. The definitive guide to the Subclass 866 protection visa sets out the general criteria in more detail.

Can Pakistani nationals apply for a protection visa in Australia?

Yes. A Pakistani national who is in Australia can apply for a Subclass 866 protection visa if they meet the refugee test in section 36(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958 or the complementary protection test in section 36(2)(aa).

The refugee test asks whether the applicant has a well-founded fear of persecution. Under section 5J(1), there must be a real chance of persecution for one of five Convention reasons: race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. The real chance must relate to all areas of Pakistan. Under section 5J(4), the Convention reason must be the essential and significant reason for the harm, and the persecution must involve serious harm and systematic and discriminatory conduct.

The complementary protection test asks whether there is a real risk that the applicant will suffer significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of being removed to Pakistan. Significant harm is a closed list in section 36(2A). It covers arbitrary deprivation of life, the death penalty, torture, cruel or inhuman treatment or punishment, and degrading treatment or punishment. The death penalty is directly relevant to Pakistan, because the Pakistan Penal Code provides for it in blasphemy cases.

Applications for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals are lodged online through ImmiAccount. The applicant must be in Australia when applying and when the visa is granted. The Subclass 866 protection visa page explains the visa itself, and the guide to protection visa eligibility explains what to check before lodging.

Who from Pakistan applies for protection in Australia?

Pakistani applicants for protection in Australia are usually people who arrived as students, visitors, skilled workers or family members and then found that return had become unsafe. Some left Pakistan because of threats. Others became at risk after they arrived, for example because a blasphemy complaint was made against them, a relative was killed, or the political situation changed.

Claims for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals usually arise from one or more of these situations:

• Religion and blasphemy. Being Ahmadi, Shia, Hazara, Christian or Hindu, converting from Islam, or being accused of blasphemy.
• Political opinion. Membership of, or support for, an opposition party, in particular Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and also the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) or the Awami National Party (ANP).
• Militant violence. Threats from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or sectarian groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, often because of work for peace committees, government, foreign forces or political parties.
• Gender and family harm. Honour-based violence, forced marriage, domestic violence and disputes over inheritance.
• Blood feuds and powerful opponents. Family feuds and disputes with influential local people who can use the police.
• Sexual orientation and gender identity. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, khawaja sira and intersex applicants.

Many strong claims combine more than one of these. A Shia man from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who served on a village peace committee may have claims on religion, political opinion and membership of a particular social group at the same time. Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals are assessed claim by claim, so every ground that genuinely applies should be identified in the application.

Blasphemy claims from Pakistan

A blasphemy accusation can support a strong protection claim from Pakistan, because it exposes the accused person to prosecution, long detention and mob violence, and the state often cannot protect them.

The Pakistan Penal Code contains a group of religious offences. Section 295-A punishes deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings, with imprisonment of up to 10 years. Section 295-B punishes defiling the Quran with imprisonment for life. Section 295-C punishes derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad with death or imprisonment for life. Section 298 punishes deliberately wounding religious feelings.

The danger is not only the courts. An accusation can lead to mob attacks before any charge is laid. In August 2023, mobs attacked churches and Christian homes in Jaranwala after a blasphemy allegation. In May 2024, an elderly Christian man in Sargodha died after a mob attack. Human Rights Watch has reported a finding by Pakistan's National Commission for Human Rights that at least 450 people were falsely charged with blasphemy through an organised scheme of blackmail and extortion.

A person does not need to have been charged to have a well-founded fear. A complaint to police, a first information report, threats from a religious group, or a public accusation online may all be relevant. Claims for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals based on blasphemy should include the first information report, any court documents, and evidence of who made the accusation and why.

Ahmadi, Shia, Christian and Hindu applicants

Religious minority claims from Pakistan can succeed where the applicant faces serious harm because of their faith and cannot be protected anywhere in Pakistan. Religion is a Convention reason, and section 5J(3) means an applicant cannot be expected to alter their religious beliefs to avoid persecution.

Ahmadis

Ahmadis face restrictions written into Pakistani law. The Constitution was amended in 1974 to declare Ahmadis non-Muslim. Ordinance XX of 1984 inserted sections 298-B and 298-C into the Penal Code. They make it an offence for an Ahmadi to call himself a Muslim, to call his faith Islam, to preach or propagate his faith, or to call a place of worship a mosque. Ahmadi places of worship and graves have been damaged, and Human Rights Watch reported that an Ahmadi man was beaten to death by a mob in Karachi in April 2025. Ahmadi claims form a distinct group within Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals, because the restrictions are imposed by law and not only by society. The UK Home Office assesses that Ahmadis who openly practise their faith beyond what domestic law permits are likely to face a real risk of persecution, and that internal relocation is unlikely to be reasonable for them.

Shia and Hazara

Shia Muslims, including Hazaras in Quetta and Shia communities in Kurram, have been targeted by sectarian militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. DFAT has described a November 2024 attack on a convoy in Kurram District in which dozens of Shia travellers were killed. In Shia claims for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals, the strongest cases usually involve an applicant with a profile, such as a religious reciter, community organiser or security volunteer, who has received personal threats.

Christians, Hindus and converts

Christians and Hindus face discrimination, blasphemy accusations and the abduction and forced conversion of girls and young women. United Nations experts reported in April 2024 that Christian and Hindu girls remain particularly vulnerable to forced conversion, abduction and forced marriage, and that police often dismiss these crimes as "love marriages". The UK Home Office assesses that Christians by birth are generally not at real risk solely because of their religion, but that converts from Islam who are open about their conversion may face a real risk. The page on religious persecution explains how these claims are framed.

Political claims for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals

Political claims from Pakistan are strongest for active supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf who have been arrested, charged or targeted, and for people with a public role in opposition politics. The risk depends heavily on the applicant's own profile.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office in April 2022 and has been in prison since August 2023. His arrest in May 2023 led to protests on 9 May 2023 in which military buildings were attacked. Large numbers of PTI supporters were arrested, and some civilians were tried in military courts. In May 2025, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court allowed military trials of civilians. Human Rights Watch reported that military trials were held in secret with reduced due process protections, and that in 2025 an anti-terrorism court sentenced PTI members to long prison terms. In September 2026, Amnesty International raised concerns about the arbitrary detention of members of Imran Khan's family and party activists.

Other political profiles also arise. Supporters of the MQM in Karachi, in particular the faction loyal to its founder Altaf Hussain, have faced arrests and allegations of criminality. Members of the Awami National Party and other parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been targeted by the Pakistani Taliban. In these claims, a key question is whether the harm comes from the state, from which protection is usually not available, or from non-state actors, where the Department will ask whether the state can protect the applicant or whether they can relocate.

Ordinary voters and low-level supporters usually need specific evidence that they personally are of interest. That evidence can include first information reports, court summonses, arrest warrants, party membership records, photographs of the applicant in a known role, and news reports. The guide to protection visa evidence explains how these documents support an application for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals.

Taliban, sectarian militants and blood feuds

Threats from militant groups can support a protection claim where the applicant has a profile that makes them a target and the state cannot protect them. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has carried out attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the former tribal areas. Its targets have included police, government workers, members of village defence and peace committees, political activists, and people seen as working with foreign forces. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and similar groups target Shia, Hazara and Ahmadi people. In militant claims for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals, the applicant should explain what they did, who threatened them, how the threats were made, and what happened to others in the same position.

Blood feuds and disputes with influential local people are more difficult. A feud between families is usually a private dispute, and the Department often finds that the harm feared is criminal rather than persecution. These claims can still engage complementary protection where there is a real risk of being killed and the police will not act, for example because the opponent is powerful or connected to the police or politicians. They may engage the refugee test where the family is targeted as a particular social group under section 5K, but harm to relatives that is not for a Convention reason is disregarded.

Honour crimes, forced marriage and violence against women

Women from Pakistan can have strong claims based on honour-based violence, forced marriage and domestic violence where the state will not provide effective protection. Where a woman makes a claim for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals on this basis, she should be able to give her account privately, and she can ask for a female officer and interpreter.

Pakistan has laws against these harms. The Criminal Law (Amendment) (Offences in the name or pretext of Honour) Act 2016 provides that a person who kills in the name of honour must still be sentenced to imprisonment for life even if the victim's family forgives them. A law on paper is not enough. Section 5LA asks whether there is, in practice, a reasonably effective police force and an impartial judicial system. Human Rights Watch reported figures from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan showing that hundreds of people, most of them women, were killed in the name of honour in the first five months of 2025.

Claims by women may rest on membership of a particular social group under section 5L, or on complementary protection. The evidence should show the specific threat, who made it, whether the woman sought help, and why relocation would not work for a woman without male family support. The UK Home Office recognises that women leaving family violence face real social and economic barriers to relocation in Pakistan.

Claims based on sexual orientation or gender identity

Section 377 of the Pakistan Penal Code criminalises "carnal intercourse against the order of nature", and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face serious violence from family and community. These claims raise their own legal questions, including why an applicant cannot be expected to hide who they are. They are dealt with in a separate guide for LGBTI Pakistani applicants.

How does the Department assess Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals?

The Department assesses Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals by testing the applicant's credibility, then comparing the claims with country information, then asking whether state protection or relocation within Pakistan would remove the risk.

DFAT country information

The Department relies heavily on DFAT Country Information Reports. DFAT's current Country Information Report on Pakistan is dated 30 April 2025. It is an important source, but it is only one source. Applicants for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals can answer it with evidence that is more specific to them, such as first information reports, court records, medical records and news reports naming them or their family. They can also rely on more recent material from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the United Nations and the UK Home Office. Pakistan's political situation has moved since April 2025, so recent evidence is often important.

State protection

For the refugee test, section 5J(2) and section 5LA ask whether effective protection is available. The state must be willing and able to protect the person. Where the feared harm comes from the state itself, such as political prosecution or blasphemy charges, protection is not realistic. Where the harm comes from militants, feuding families or relatives, the Department will often find that Pakistan's police and courts can protect the applicant. The applicant must then explain why reporting to police did not help, or why it would have been useless or dangerous. Police corruption, refusal to register a first information report, and the influence of powerful opponents are all relevant. State protection is one of the issues on which many applications for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals are refused.

Internal relocation

Under section 5J(1)(c), the real chance of persecution must relate to all areas of Pakistan. For complementary protection, section 36(2B)(a) asks whether it would be reasonable, in the sense of practicable, to relocate within Pakistan. Decision makers often suggest Islamabad, Lahore or Karachi. The applicant should explain why relocation would not make them safe. Relevant factors include the national reach of the persecutor, the nationwide effect of the blasphemy and anti-Ahmadi laws, tenant registration with police and the national identity card system, and the practical position of a single woman or a person without family support.

Refugee protection or complementary protection for Pakistani claims?

Most Pakistani religious and political claims are assessed first under the refugee test, and complementary protection is then assessed as a separate question. Blood feud, extortion and some family violence claims often depend more on complementary protection. A well-prepared application for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals addresses both tests from the start.

Under section 36(2B)(c), there is no real risk of significant harm where the risk is faced by the population of the country generally and not by the applicant personally. General terrorism, general crime and general insecurity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Balochistan will not be enough. The applicant must show a personal risk.

Section 5J(6) also matters. For the refugee test, conduct in Australia is disregarded unless the applicant satisfies the Minister that it was engaged in otherwise than to strengthen the claim. Attending PTI rallies in Australia, posting online against the Pakistani military, or converting to another religion in Australia must be genuine. Section 5J(6) does not apply to complementary protection.

Why are Pakistani protection claims refused?

Claims for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals are most often refused because the Department does not accept the applicant's account, finds that the state could protect them or that they could relocate, or finds that the harm is general or private rather than personal and serious.

The common reasons, and the evidence that answers them, include:

• Doubts about documents. Decision makers are aware that false documents, including first information reports and court papers, can be obtained in Pakistan. The answer is to explain where each document came from, provide originals where possible, and be ready for verification.
• Low profile. The Department may accept that the applicant supports a party or belongs to a minority but find they are not personally at risk. The answer is evidence of the applicant's own role and of the threats made to them.
• State protection and relocation. The answer is evidence of what happened when help was sought, and why a move to another city would not be safe.
• Delay. A long gap between arrival and applying can be treated as inconsistent with fear. The reason should be explained. The guide on delay in a Subclass 866 application covers this.
• Inconsistency. Differences between the protection application, the interview and earlier student or visitor visa applications damage credibility.

The guide to the protection visa statement of claims explains how an applicant's own account and supporting documents fit together.

Applying on a visitor, student or other visa

A Pakistani national can apply for a protection visa while holding a visitor, student or other temporary visa, and a No Further Stay condition does not prevent an onshore protection visa application. The applicant usually receives a bridging visa while the application is decided, and work rights depend on its conditions. Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals are not limited to people who arrived on any particular visa. The guides for people on a tourist visa and for international students explain the specific issues.

Many Pakistani nationals worry that the Department will tell the Pakistani government. The Department treats protection claims as confidential and does not disclose them to the government of the country the person fears.

The protection visa interview and interpreters

Most applicants for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals are interviewed by a Department officer. The interview tests the applicant's account in detail, including dates, places, people and the reasons for the harm feared.

An interpreter is provided. Applicants should ask for the language they speak best, whether Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, Balochi, Hazaragi or another language. Problems with interpretation should be raised at the interview, not later. In Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals, small differences in names, dates and places can become credibility findings, so the applicant should review their own account before the interview. The pages on the protection visa interview and interview preparation explain what to expect.

Tribunal decisions involving Pakistani applicants

Published tribunal decisions show how Pakistani claims have been examined on review. The following decisions were remitted, meaning the Tribunal sent the matter back to the Department for reconsideration. A remittal is not a visa grant.

• 1809330 (Refugee) [2023] AATA 4418. PTI political activism, attacks and arrest risks, with protection claims involving the family.
• 1905193 (Refugee) [2023] AATA 502. An Ahmadi applicant who described threats against the family and the forced disposal of a business.
• 1825991 (Refugee) [2024] AATA 1368. A Shia Noha reciter facing sectarian threats, where the adequacy of state protection and relocation were in issue.
• 1714527 (Refugee) [2023] AATA 2680. A Pashtun woman facing domestic abuse and pressure to surrender inherited property.

Each decision turned on its own facts. Current claims for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals are assessed against conditions at the time of decision.

What happens if a Pakistani protection visa application is refused?

If the Department refuses the application, the decision can usually be reviewed by the Administrative Review Tribunal. The time limit to apply for review is short and strictly applied, and it runs from the date the applicant is notified of the decision.

At review, the Tribunal considers the claims again and can consider new evidence, including evidence of events in Pakistan since the Department's decision. Under section 48A, a person whose protection visa application has been refused while they are in Australia cannot make a further protection visa application unless the Minister personally allows it under section 48B. That makes the first application and the review critical for Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals. The pages on protection visa refusals and the Subclass 866 refusal ART guide explain the process.

How My Migration Lawyers acts in Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals

My Migration Lawyers acts in Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals for people already in Australia. The firm deals with complex protection matters and acts in many Subclass 866 matters of this exact type, including blasphemy, Ahmadi, Shia, political and honour-based claims from Pakistan. It is capable of handling these matters from the first consultation to decision, and at review if the visa has been refused.

The work in Protection Visas in Australia for Pakistani Nationals includes:

• Assessing the framework. Deciding whether the claims fit the refugee test, complementary protection or both.
• The applicant's own account. Taking the applicant's own account with an interpreter. It is the applicant's evidence, which they review and correct before it is lodged, and the applicant decides which claims are advanced.
• Country information. Engaging with DFAT country information and more recent reports on Pakistan.
• State protection and relocation. Addressing the two issues on which Pakistani claims most often fail.
• Form 866 and documents. Preparing the Form 866 application and supporting documents, including first information reports and court records from Pakistan.
• Interview and requests. Preparing the applicant for interview and responding to requests for information under section 56 or invitations to comment under section 57.
• Review. Applying to the Administrative Review Tribunal within time if the application is refused.

My Migration Lawyers is led by Principal Lawyer Weiwei Zhang. The protection visa lawyers page explains how the firm acts in Subclass 866 matters more generally.

If you are from Pakistan and fear returning, book a consultation with My Migration Lawyers online, or call 1300 040 300.