What you need to do
If you currently hold a Temporary Protection visa (TPV) or a Safe Haven Enterprise visa (SHEV) you must apply for a subsequent TPV or SHEV before your current visa expires.
There are serious consequences if you do not apply in time.
If you do not apply before your current visa expires, you will become unlawful and will lose access to work and study rights and benefits such as Medicare and Centrelink payments.
You may be barred by one or more application bars in the Act and prevented from applying for a subsequent TPV or SHEV.
The Minister has non-delegable, non-compellable public interest powers under the Act to allow a person who would otherwise be barred to make another application for a protection visa.
The Minister only intervenes in a small number of cases each year and will only consider requests where a person is making genuine and compelling claims that require consideration.
If your TPV has already expired and you are unlawful, see My visa is about to expire or has expired .
TPV holders
TPVs are temporary visas and expire 3 years after the date of grant, unless you apply for another TPV or a SHEV while holding your visa. We recommend that you apply for another TPV or SHEV at least 3 months before your current TPV expires.
This will give us time to check for any application bars or other issues that may prevent you from lodging a valid subsequent TPV or SHEV application before your current TPV expires.
To see when your visa expires, use VEVO.
SHEV
SHEVs are temporary visas and expire 5 years after the date of grant, unless you apply for another SHEV or a TPV while holding your visa. SHEV holders do not need to apply for a subsequent protection visa yet, as SHEVs will not start ceasing until October 2020.
If you hold a SHEV and try to apply for another SHEV or a TPV now, your application will be invalid because an application bar is currently in effect for Illegal Maritime Arrivals (IMAs) holding a SHEV.
We will notify SHEV holders in writing if the Minister decides to lift the application bar. If the application bar is lifted, we recommend that you apply for another SHEV or TPV at least 3 months before your current SHEV expires.
This will give us time to check for any application bars or other issues that may prevent you from lodging a valid subsequent SHEV or TPV application before your current SHEV expires.
To see when your visa expires, use VEVO.
