Australia: Protection Visa Reviews Move to Upfront Fee of A$1,863.50 From November 1
Australia's Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) has announced that, under updated Migration Regulations 1994, reviews of most Protection visa decisions require an upfront fee of A$1,863.50 when lodging a review, starting November 1, 2026. Previously, protection visa review applicants typically did not pay a fee at the time of filing.
The fee applies to review applications related to decisions to refuse or cancel a protection visa, and to certain decisions to withdraw an existing protection finding. The upfront payment is half of the standard application fee, with the possibility of the remaining balance becoming payable depending on the outcome and specific circumstances of the review. Applicants who succeed in their review will receive a full refund; if the tribunal determines the application is invalid or is prevented from reviewing the decision, the fee will also be returned. Withdrawing a review application after November 1 generally does not qualify for a refund, except in very limited circumstances determined by the tribunal.
Two groups are exempt from the upfront charge: non-citizens held in immigration detention, and applicants whose cases can be combined with another application for which a fee has already been paid. The new regulations primarily apply to decisions and applications made on or after November 1. Individuals who began an online review application before the change but had not submitted it by 12:00 a.m. (AEDT) on Sunday, November 1, are required to restart their application and pay the new fee; reviews lodged before November 1 generally follow the previous system, under which unsuccessful applicants paid after the review concluded, typically within seven days of an invoice, and successful applicants were often not required to pay.
The same amendment instrument also introduces changes to certain Bridging Visa B grants for non-citizens connected to a protection application. The fee change has drawn criticism from refugee advocates: the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) said on November 2 that the upfront fee amounts to six weeks' worth of Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) payments and called for restoring the option to pay upon conclusion of tribunal matters, while the government states the upfront fee will discourage unmeritorious applications.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 照片：澳大利亚堪培拉国会大厦黄昏，Thennicke 摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0 授权 / Photo: Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, at dusk, by Thennicke, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
