Visa Refused in Australia? Appeal to the ART or Reapply — Deadlines and Costs
What happens after an Australian visa refusal: the ART appeal deadline under section 347, what an appeal costs, and when a fresh application makes more sense than a review. Figures as at September 2026.
Read the full guide, with official sources →
Watch
Chapters
- 0:00 A visa refusal starts a deadline you can't pause
- 0:13 Two paths: appeal, or reapply
- 0:26 28 days — or 14 if detained
- 0:40 Character refusals: 9 days
- 1:01 ART filing fee: $3,727
- 1:14 Legal costs: $5,000 to $20,000+
- 1:25 PIC 4020: false or misleading info
- 1:39 Section 48 can block a new onshore application
- 1:50 Ministerial intervention: sections 351 and 501J
- 2:07 Most common mistake: reapplying without fixing what went wrong
- 2:20 Where to read more
Transcript
Your visa has been refused. The letter you're holding names a deadline, and if you miss it, your right to a review disappears — permanently.
You generally have two paths. Appeal the decision at the Administrative Review Tribunal, the ART, or scrap it and lodge a fresh application. Each has its own cost, timeline, and risk.
The deadline comes from section 347 of the Migration Act. It's 28 days in the ordinary case, or 14 days if you were in immigration detention when you were notified. Neither can be extended.
Character-related refusals under section 501 run on their own, shorter clock: 9 days.
The ART replaced the old Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024. It's a fresh decision-maker looking at your case again, and it can consider evidence that wasn't in your original application.
Filing an ART appeal costs $3,727, indexed every 1 July. If the tribunal decides in your favour, half of that fee is refunded.
A fresh application skips that filing fee, but legal help for either path can run from $5,000 to $20,000 or more, depending on how complex the case is.
Get the wrong information into an application and it follows you. Public Interest Criterion 4020 covers false or misleading information, and it can bar you from most visas for 3 years, or 10 in the more serious cases.
If you're in Australia and your substantive visa was refused or cancelled, section 48 of the Migration Act can stop you applying for most visas onshore without leaving first.
As a last resort, you can ask the Minister to step in personally: section 351 covers most ART decisions, and section 501J covers an ART decision on a protection visa. Neither is a right — it's entirely the Minister's discretion.
The most common way people lose this: missing the deadline while they're still deciding, or reapplying with the same evidence that got them refused the first time. Read the refusal reasons carefully before you choose either path.
The full guide, with the official sources, is on migratio.com.au. The link is in the description. And if you'd like to talk it through, you can compare registered migration agents there, and see their fees before you book anything.
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