Partner Visa Refusals

The standard deadline for every partner visa subclass is 28 calendar days. That covers the 820, 801, 309, 100 and 300, and the 461 where the refusal carries review rights. The period runs from the date you are taken to have been notified, and for most migration decisions it cannot be extended.

Published Tribunal data for July 2024 to March 2025 put the partner visa set aside rate at around 55%, well above protection visas at 10%. That reflects the fact that most partner refusals are evidentiary rather than substantive, and the Tribunal accepts new evidence.

Usually yes. If you apply for review within the period, a further bridging visa is generally available to keep you lawful while the Tribunal deals with the matter, with work rights continuing. Confirm the bridging visa is granted and check its conditions.

For most migration decisions the Tribunal cannot extend the period, and a late application is invalid rather than weak. The remaining options are a fresh application where one is available, judicial review where there is a legal error, or ministerial intervention. Get advice quickly.

It depends on the refusal reason and whether a bar applies. A fresh application can be faster where the gap is fixable, but it means a second charge of AUD $11,710 and gives up your place in the queue. Section 48 also blocks most other onshore applications after a refusal.

Yes. The Tribunal conducts merits review and decides the case again on all the material before it, including evidence that did not exist when you applied. Evidence from the period since the refusal is often the strongest part of an appeal.

In most partner visa matters, yes. Hearings are held in person, by video or by phone. You and your witnesses give evidence and answer questions from the Tribunal member. Consistency between the written material and the oral evidence matters a great deal.

A Tribunal application fee is payable on lodgement, set by regulation and reviewed annually. Published figures have recently been quoted between roughly AUD $3,500 and $3,700+ for standard migration reviews, with a partial refund where the review succeeds. A reduced fee may be available in cases of financial hardship.

No. The Tribunal can affirm, vary, set aside and substitute, or remit the matter to the Department with directions. Remittal is the most common successful outcome on partner visas, and the Department then completes the remaining checks and decides.

Public interest criterion 4020 concerns bogus documents or false or misleading information. A refusal on this ground carries a bar of three years on most further visas, or ten years where identity is involved, and it attaches to the person rather than the application. Waiver is limited and the appeal is technical.

On an offshore refusal, only the Australian sponsor can apply for review. The deadline is the same 28 calendar days. On an onshore refusal the applicant is the review applicant. If the sponsorship itself was refused, that decision has its own review right and its own deadline.

The Administrative Review Tribunal replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024 and took over its migration work. The grounds and the practical process are largely unchanged, but the names and the fees are different, so older material should be read with care.