How long after a visa refusal can I reapply?

Visa refusal

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Managing Associate - Australian Migration Lawyer | Assistant Practice Manager February 11, 2024 minute read

Receiving a visa refusal can be an incredibly stressful situation, given its impact on your ability to continue your life in Australia. Depending on the type of visa that you have been refused, there are different avenues for potential reapplication. The best course of action may be to appeal the refusal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. However, if the appeal period elapses or if your visa refusal has no appeal rights, it is important to determine when you can reapply with a stronger application, thereby increasing your chances of success in obtaining a visa grant.

What is the waiting period?

When a visa is refused, waiting periods vary before you can reapply depending on the specific visa applied for. For some offshore visas, there is no wait period required, and you can submit a new application. However for many other visas, particularly those onshore, a refusal may mean being unable to reapply for some time. It is important to speak to a lawyer who can advise you on the waiting period, specific to your visa subclass, to see when you will be able to reapply. Regardless of whether there is a waiting period or not, obtaining legal advice and taking steps to strengthen your application is essential to increase your chances of success when you are able to reapply.

Waiting periods can also vary depending on the reason as to why your application was refused. Some reasons for refusal will not require you undergo any waiting period at all before being able to apply for a different visa, whereas other reasons for refusal carry mandatory waiting periods before you can reapply. If, for example, you are deemed to have provided false or misleading information or submit bogus documents, you will be unable to apply for any visa for three years. If such documents pertain to your identity information, the waiting period before reapplying for any visa can be up to 10 years. For each of these, there are limited circumstances where the Department may waive this requirement, should you meet the limited criteria within the regulations.

The best course of action for any visa application is to have adequate representation in your visa application in order to avoid a refusal entirely. Should your visa application already be refused, get in touch with our office as soon as possible to allow the best course of action to be taken. For advice specific to your circumstances, it is important to obtain advice from an experienced migration lawyer with a wide knowledge of immigration matters who can assist in navigating the refusal of your application.

Book consultation

If you are interested in getting more information about a visa, get in touch with Australian Migration Lawyers for a consultation.

Ways to increase your chances of success

When reapplying for a visa, you must disclose that you have received a refusal in the past. This may have an impact on your future applications so it is imperative that you enlist the help of a lawyer to submit a strong application to increase your chances of a grant, rather than another refusal.

Ways in which you can increase your chances of success include obtaining more documents that evidence the eligibility requirements, reviewing and revising the originally submitted application, and addressing the concerns specifically mentioned in your previous refusal record. Once you become our client at Australian Migration Lawyers, we review your entire application and all supporting documents and will provide you with a detailed plan for steps needing to be taken to increase your chances of success.

Here at Australian Migration Lawyers, we always do our best to ensure our client’s cases that are presented to the department are of high quality, working to achieve a positive outcome.

About

Managing Associate - Australian Migration Lawyer | Assistant Practice Manager

Ella's extensive knowledge of immigration law, combined with her prior experience in criminal law, sets her apart as a migration lawyer who can provide comprehensive and strategic legal solutions. Her commitment to upholding human rights principles in her legal work remains a driving force in her practice.