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Protection visas are for asylum seekers

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Like many countries, Australia has visas in place to offer protection for asylum seekers.​

A Protection visa (subclass 866) allows a person who is at real risk of significant harm or persecution in their home country to live in Australia permanently. A Protection visa is not for people who just want to stay longer in Australia to work.

You cannot apply for a Protection visa if you are outside Australia. You must have arrived in Australia on a valid visa and be immigration cleared on arrival.

Big changes have been made to the Protection visa application process to speed up processing times. Most new applications are now decided almost 8 times faster compared to recent years. This means a quicker grant of Protection visas to those in need and swift refusal ​for those who apply for a Protection visa to simply work or extend their stay in Australia.

Do not apply for a Protection visa if you do not need asylum in Australia. We quickly refuse applicants who do not meet Protection visa criteria.

If you are thinking about applying for a Protection visa (subclass 866), we strongly encourage you to get free legal help​ from a specialist refugee and immigration legal provider.


Protection visa

Nela: I came to know about Protection visas from some informal agents.

I was advised it was easier to apply for a Protection visa, it only requires your passport and administration fee.

Rose: A friend of mine received advice that after he graduates, he should apply for a Protection visa, he was advised the visa will be cheaper to apply for compared to others and the process is very simple. He took this advice.

But in fact the Government requested he provide documents and evidence soon after he applied.

He wasn’t able to provide the requested documents so his visa was refused very quickly.

Akash: People are under the misconception that by submitting false and fabricated documents, and by taking advice from fake migration agents, their Protection visa application will be approved, but that’s not the case.

I have heard that many people waste a lot of money on this and endure a great deal of anger and frustration. In the end, they are sent back to their home country.

Maggie: I have a friend who applied for a Protection visa which was refused. She applied for a Protection visa after her Tourist visa expired.

She was assisted by a local agent for a very affordable price and did not anticipate the consequences of her application.

So the application was refused and she chose to appeal. After going through the appeal process, she got the same result.

Sean: When I was advised to apply for a Protection visa I wanted to know who is eligible.

Based on my research Protection visas are for genuine asylum seekers.

Nela: If you are advised to apply for a Protection visa, visit Home Affairs website for information.

Legal advice has been made available, and it’s confidential and free to access them.





Faster visa processing

Under new changes introduced by the government, most new applications for a Protection visa (subclass 866) are now being decided almost 8 times faster compared to recent years.

If you do not need protection in Australia, or do not meet Protection visa criteria, your application will be quickly refused.

There may be other visas more suited to your circumstances. To find the right visa for you, Explore your options.

Protection is for asylum seekers

Protection visas are for people (or their family members) who face a real risk of significant harm if they return home or a real chance of persecution on the grounds of:

  • race
  • religion
  • nationality
  • membership of a particular social group
  • political opinion.

To apply for a Protection visa, you must be in Australia on a valid visa and have been immigration cleared on arrival.

Do not apply for a Protection visa as a means to extend your stay in Australia so you can secure paid employment.

Significantly more Protection visa applications are refused than the number granted. More than 85% of applications are refused, as they do not meet the requirements for the visa. Applications from some nationalities have refusal rates close to 100%.

If your Protection visa application is refused and you do not hold a valid visa, you will need to leave Australia. If you do not have a valid visa, you may be detained and removed from Australia.

A refused Protection visa application will stay on your immigration record for life. It may also make it harder for you and your family to visit Australia in the future and can impact future visa applications to other countries, depending on the visa you are applying for.

When you apply for a Protection visa you are seeking asylum in Australia from your home country.

If you apply for a Protection visa, you are declaring that one or both of the following are true:

  • You cannot go home without facing a real risk of significant harm or persecution.
  • You are a family member of someone who has made such claims.

If you can legally enter and safely live in another country (apart from your home country), you will not get a Protection visa.

You should only apply for a Protection visa if you need asylum in Australia.

Read more about Australia’s protection obligations.

Check if a Protection visa is right for you or someone you know

Use our online tool to find out if a Protection visa is right for you or someone you know.

The tool will ask you a series of questions to help guide you on whether or not you or someone you know should apply for a Protection visa. The Australian Government will not be able to see or store any of your answers.

  ONLINE TOOL  

The tool is for general information only and is not legal advice. You will not be able to use it in an application for a visa.

Free legal help

If you are thinking about applying for a Protection visa (subclass 866), we strongly encourage you to get free legal help from a specialist refugee and immigration legal provider in your state or territory before you apply.

List of legal providers in your state or territory
State or Territory Name Website
Australian Capital Territory

Legal Aid ACT

www.legalaidact.org.au

New South Wales

Refugee Advice and Casework Service

www.racs.org.au

Northern Territory

Refugee Legal

www.refugeelegal.org.au

Queensland

Refugee and Immigration Legal Service

www.rails.org.au

South Australia

Legal Services Commission of SA

www.lsc.sa.gov.au

Tasmania

Tasmanian Refugee Legal Service

www.trls.org.au

Victoria

Refugee Legal

www.refugeelegal.org.au

Western Australia

Circle Green Community Legal

www.circlegreen.org.au

These providers can help you:

  • find out if you are eligible for a Protection visa or another more suitable visa
  • understand the application process
  • understand the implications of a Protection visa refusal
  • complete and lodge a Protection visa application if required.

You can also get free legal help from legal aid or a community legal centre in your state or territory.

Your responsibilities

When submitting an application for a Protection visa, it is your responsibility to ensure that all of the information you provide is true and accurate, even if somebody else completes and submits the application for you.

You should not let anyone apply for a Protection visa for you without understanding what you are applying for and what information is being provided in the application.

Communities living in Australia have an important role to play in preventing the spread of misinformation to those who are considering applying for a Protection visa. This includes spreading awareness of the risks of submitting false or misleading information and engaging an unregistered migration adviser.

There are serious consequences for providing false or misleading information or false documents in a Protection visa application, including large fines, possible jail for up to 10 years, or both. It may also be harder for you and your family to ever return to Australia, even on a visitor, student, or temporary work visa such as a PALM scheme visa.

If someone applying for a Protection visa asks you to write a support letter for them, you should only do this if you believe they face the risk of significant harm or persecution if they return home. Encourage them to access the free legal help​ from a specialist refugee and immigration legal provider in their state or territory.

Travel restrictions

When you apply for a Protection visa, your application may be refused if you travel to the country you are seeking Australia’s protection from, even if your family lives there.

If you are granted a Protection visa, you will not be able to travel to the country you have sought asylum from without permission from the Australian Government, even if your family lives there.

Seek the right advice

Advice on applying for a Protection visa should only be sought from registered migration agents and Australian legal practitioners. You may also seek general immigration assistance from an exempt person.

An exempt person is someone who is not a registered migration agent or legal practitioner and is:

  • your nominator or sponsor
  • your close family member
  • a parliamentarian
  • a member of a diplomatic mission
  • a member of a consular post
  • a member of an international organisation.

A person who is not a registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner must not charge you a fee for their help. It is illegal for an exempt person to charge a fee.

You can check if someone is a registered migration agent by searching the online register on the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) website, or find out more about getting help from an Australian legal practitioner.

Read more about who can help you with your application in Australia.

Find out the steps to choose a registered migration agent.

You should not let anyone apply for a Protection visa for you without understanding what you are applying for and what information is being provided in the application. You must make sure everything in your application is true, even if someone else completes and submits it for you.

Be careful of illegal operators

It is unlawful for a person to charge for migration advice unless they are a registered migration agent or Australian legal practitioner. You risk receiving incorrect advice if you use someone who is not a registered migration agent or Australian lawyer, potentially risking any chance you have of staying in Australia.

Unlawful operators often advertise their services on social media and in online chat groups. They sometimes tell applicants to give false or misleading information or to provide false documents when applying for a Protection visa, and some charge a lot of money for this incorrect advice.

If someone tries to unlawfully give you immigration assistance, you can tell us by using the Border Watch Online Report. You do not have to give your name.

If you are refused a Protection visa

If your Protection visa application is refused:

  • you will need to leave Australia if you do not hold a valid visa
  • you and your family may find it harder to visit Australia in the future
  • your refusal will stay on your immigration record for life
  • it can impact future visa applications to other countries outside of Australia, depending on the type of visa you apply for.

If you stay in Australia without a valid visa

The Australian Government is detaining and removing refused Protection visa applicants who no longer have a right to stay in Australia. These enforcement activities help maintain the integrity of Australia’s immigration system.

If you are detained and removed from Australia after a Protection visa is refused, you may have to pay back the costs of your removal. This could be thousands of dollars.

Other visa options

There may be other visas more suited to your circumstances.

To find the right visa for you, Explore your options.

Help with an expiring visa

To find out if your visa is expiring soon or has already expired, fill in your details at Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO).

Our Status Resolution Service (SRS) can help you if you need help to resolve your immigration matters. SRS officers can:

  • address obstacles or barriers which prevent case resolution
  • provide clear information about immigration pathways or departure options
  • grant bridging visas to eligible people who are currently unlawful.

Find out more at Status Resolution Service.

Help with your visa application

You are strongly encouraged to seek free legal help​ from specialist refugee and immigration legal providers to find out if you are eligible for a Protection visa.

Protection visa resources in language

To learn more about the Protection visa (subclass 866) in your language, read the translated fact sheet and webpage, and watch our video.

If you can’t find information in the language you are looking for below, go to the dropdown box at the top of this webpage. There you can access translations of this web page in additional languages.

Bislama

Fact sheet

Webpage translation

 

 

Chinese Simplified

Fact sheet

 

 

Chinese Traditional 

Fact sheet

 

 

English

Fact sheet

Fijian

Fact sheet

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French

Fact sheet

 

 

Gilbertese

Webpage translation

Gujarati

Fact sheet

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Hindi

Fact sheet

 

 

Indonesian

Fact sheet

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Malay

Fact sheet

Webpage translation

 

 

Nauruan

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Pijin

Fact sheet

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Punjabi

Fact sheet

Webpage translation

 

 

Samoan

Webpage translation

Tagalog

Fact sheet

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Tamil

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Tetum

Fact sheet

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Thai

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Tok Pisin

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Tongan

Fact sheet

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Tuvaluan

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Vietnamese

Fact sheet