An 820 application is refused when the Department is not satisfied that one of the criteria in the Migration Regulations 1994 is met, and the refusal letter will name which one. The reason matters more than the refusal itself, because it decides what you can do next: some grounds are fixable on review, some are fixable only in a fresh application, and a few close doors for a period of years.
Appealing an 820 Refusal at the ART
How review of an 820 partner visa refusal works at the Administrative Review Tribunal: who can apply, the strict deadline, the fee, the hearing and the outcomes.
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ART Deadlines and Fees for Partner Visa Reviews
The time limit for applying to the ART after a partner visa refusal, how notification is counted, the review fee, the hardship reduction and the refunds.
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Ministerial Intervention After a Partner Visa Refusal
How ministerial intervention works after a partner visa refusal is affirmed by the ART: section 351, why the power is personal, non-compellable and rarely used.
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Reapplying After an 820 Refusal
Whether you can lodge a second 820 after a refusal, how the section 48 bar works, what a PIC 4020 refusal blocks, and when the offshore 309 is the better path.
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Can an 820 Visa Be Cancelled?
Yes. How sections 109, 116 and 501 of the Migration Act allow an 820 to be cancelled, the notice you get first, the short deadline to respond, and what follows.
Read the guide →Read the letter carefully and note the review deadline on the day you receive it. That date is the single most important thing in the document.
The relationship was not accepted as genuine and continuing
This is the most common ground. The letter usually says the decision maker was not satisfied that the parties have a mutual commitment to a shared life to the exclusion of all others, that the relationship is genuine and continuing, and that they live together or do not live separately and apart on a permanent basis. It will then list what was missing or what did not line up.
What can be done next. Merits review is the usual answer, because the Tribunal looks at the relationship as it stands on the day of its decision, not as it stood when the Department decided. Evidence from the period since the refusal is admissible and often decisive. See genuine and continuing relationship.
The evidence was thin or inconsistent
A related but distinct ground. Here the letter tends to quote back particular documents — a lease with one name on it, a statement that the couple met in one year when a form says another, a gap in the joint financial history — and treat them as inconsistencies going to credibility. Inconsistency is harder to answer than thinness, because it needs explaining rather than supplementing.
What can be done next. Address each inconsistency directly and in writing rather than burying it under more documents. See relationship evidence for what the four statutory aspects cover.
The application was not valid
A validity problem is not a refusal on the merits — the application never properly existed. The letter says the application is invalid, or was deemed invalid, and there are no review rights in the ordinary sense. It arises when:
- the applicant was not in Australia when the application was made, or a family member applying with them was not;
- a no further stay condition applied. Under condition 8503 a person cannot apply for most further visas onshore, and the Department is explicit that a waiver must be approved before the partner visa application is made. See condition 8503 no further stay;
- the statutory declarations were missing. An applicant who does not hold a substantive visa must include, at lodgement, the sponsor's online sponsorship form, evidence of the sponsor's status, and at least two statutory declarations made within the last six weeks by an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, plus evidence that each declarant holds that status. The Department states that Form 888 is not a statutory declaration and that neither the current nor earlier versions satisfy this requirement, and that if the information is not included at lodgement the application may be deemed invalid.
What can be done next. Usually a fresh valid application, if one is open. Check the effect of the section 48 bar first.
Schedule 3 was not met or not waived
If the applicant did not hold a substantive visa when they applied, the regulations require them to satisfy Schedule 3 criteria 3001, 3003 and 3004 unless the Minister is satisfied that there are compelling reasons for not applying those criteria. The letter typically accepts the relationship and refuses anyway, on the basis that compelling reasons were not established.
What can be done next. This is a discretion, and it is squarely reviewable. Circumstances that have arisen since the decision — a child, a health issue, hardship if the couple were separated — are relevant at review. See Schedule 3 criteria.
Sponsorship was refused, or a sponsorship limitation applied
The visa cannot be granted unless the sponsorship has been approved by the Minister and is still in force. The regulations also limit the Minister's discretion to approve a sponsor — for example where the sponsor has previously sponsored partners, or where certain convictions are involved. The letter will say the sponsorship was not approved, or was approved and later withdrawn.
What can be done next. Some sponsorship limitations can be waived on compelling circumstances. See sponsorship limitations.
Health, character, or debt
The 820 requires the applicant to satisfy several public interest criteria, including the health criterion and the character criterion, and to have no outstanding debt to the Australian Government or an arrangement to repay it. Health refusals usually turn on the estimated cost of a condition to Australian health and community services; the health criterion that applies to the 820 can be waived in defined circumstances, and character refusals engage a separate body of law.
What can be done next. Both are technical and neither is a good candidate for a self-prepared review application.
False or misleading information (public interest criterion 4020)
The 820 requires the applicant to satisfy public interest criterion 4020. Under the Migration Regulations 1994, this requires that there is no evidence before the Minister that the applicant gave, or caused to be given, a bogus document or information that is false or misleading in a material particular in relation to the visa application, or in relation to a visa held in the 12 months before the application was made. Information is false or misleading in a material particular if it was false or misleading when given and relevant to any criterion the Minister may consider — whether or not the decision turned on it.
Two consequences follow a refusal on this ground. First, the criterion also requires that the applicant and each member of their family unit has not been refused a visa for failing that requirement in the period starting three years before the new application and ending when it is decided. Second, a separate limb requires the applicant to satisfy the Minister as to their identity, and a refusal on that limb engages a ten-year period in the same way. The three-year limb and the bogus-document limb can be waived where there are compelling circumstances affecting the interests of Australia, or compassionate or compelling circumstances affecting the interests of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen.
Watch out
A 4020 refusal is not only about deliberate fraud. Wrong dates, an old employment claim, or a document obtained by someone else on your behalf can engage it. Verify the current wording of the criterion in the Migration Regulations 1994 before acting on anything you read about it, including this page.
A request was not answered in time
Under the Migration Act 1958 the Department can seek further information, and must put certain adverse information to an applicant for comment. If the period passes without a response, the decision can be made on the material as it stands. The letter will refer to a request sent on a date, often to an ImmiAccount or an authorised recipient the applicant no longer checks.
What can be done next. Merits review, where the material that was never provided can be put in. See natural justice letters.
What happens to your status and your bridging visa
If you applied while holding another substantive visa, that visa is unaffected by the refusal and runs its own course. If you were on a bridging visa, a Bridging visa A granted with the application generally permits you to remain for 35 days after the Department makes the refusal decision. Applying for review within time is what keeps a bridging visa available past that point. If the refusal is of the permanent 801 while you hold an 820, the 820 ceases when you are notified.
There is usually a right of review, and the time limit is short and cannot be extended. The refusal letter states it.
Where professional help changes the outcome
The choice between review, a fresh application and ministerial intervention has to be made within days, on the basis of a letter written in statutory language, and it is not reversible. An application prepared or run by an Australian migration lawyer is more likely to succeed, mainly because the ground of refusal is correctly identified at the start and the response is built for that ground rather than for the general impression the letter gives.
What to do next: if there is a review right, go to appealing at the ART and diarise the deadline. If there is not, read reapplying after a refusal.
Unregistered agents
An unregistered agent who gives immigration assistance is acting illegally (Migration Act 1958 s 280). They carry no professional indemnity insurance, so if their mistake costs you a refusal, your fees or your pathway, there is no insurer to claim against. A practising Australian lawyer must hold that insurance.
Common questions
What happens to my status if my 820 is refused?
If you held a bridging visa associated with the application, a Bridging visa A generally lets you remain for 35 days after the Department makes the refusal decision. If you held another substantive visa when you applied, that visa is unaffected and continues on its own terms. If the refusal is of the permanent 801 and you hold an 820, the 820 ceases when you are notified of the decision.
Is there a right of review after an 820 refusal?
Usually yes. A decision to refuse a visa to a person who applied while in Australia is generally a reviewable migration decision, and review is at the Administrative Review Tribunal. The refusal letter states whether there is a right of review and the date by which you must apply. The time limit is short and the Tribunal has no power to extend it.
Will I get my application fee back if I am refused?
No. The Department of Home Affairs says it will not refund the application fee if it refuses your application. That is one reason a second application is expensive as well as slow.
Can I just apply again instead of seeking review?
Sometimes, but not always. If you are in Australia without a substantive visa and have had a visa refused since you last entered, section 48 of the Migration Act 1958 limits the classes of visa you can apply for onshore. A refusal involving false or misleading information can also carry an exclusion period. Which path is open to you is one of the first things to get advice on.
What does a refusal for public interest criterion 4020 mean?
Public interest criterion 4020 requires that there is no evidence the applicant gave a bogus document, or information that is false or misleading in a material particular, in relation to the application or a visa held in the 12 months before it. A refusal on that ground also means that, for three years, a further application can fail because of the earlier refusal. A separate identity limb carries a ten-year period. Parts of the criterion can be waived in defined circumstances.