Australia Introduces Upfront Fee for Reviews of Protection Visa Decisions

Dragon Media News Desk

People seeking a review of most protection visa decisions in Australia must now pay an application fee of 1,863.50 Australian dollars when lodging their application. The country’s Administrative Review Tribunal said the new requirement took effect on Sunday. The fee is equivalent to about 1,300 U.S. dollars.

The requirement, introduced through amendments to Australia’s Migration Regulations 1994, took effect on November 1. It applies to reviews of decisions to refuse or cancel a protection visa, as well as certain decisions to withdraw a protection finding. Applicants must now pay the fee when filing for a review, rather than after the review process is completed.

Non-citizens held in immigration detention and applicants whose cases can be combined with another application for which a fee has already been paid are exempt. Applicants who succeed in their review or whose applications are found to be invalid will receive a full refund. However, refunds for applications withdrawn on or after November 1 will be available only in very limited circumstances.

Applicants who started an online application before November 1 but did not submit it before midnight on that date must begin a new application and pay the upfront fee. Applications lodged before November 1 will generally remain subject to the previous arrangement, under which applicants are required to pay a fee only if their review is unsuccessful.