When a visa is cancelled.

Read the date and work out the deadline before anything else.

A section 119 notice has to tell you that there appear to be grounds for cancellation, give particulars of those grounds and of the information behind them, and invite you to show within a specified time either that the grounds do not exist or that there is a reason why the visa should not be cancelled.

That invitation is the opportunity. What you put in the response is what the decision-maker weighs, and it is far harder to introduce the same material afterwards.

Migration Act 1958 s.119

Both limbs of the invitation. Whether the ground exists at all, and separately, whether there is a reason not to cancel even if it does.

The second limb is where most cases are won, because the ground is often factually made out. That is where your circumstances, your ties, the consequences of cancellation and anything that explains what happened belong.

Evidence beats assertion. A statement that you were unwell is worth less than the medical record that shows it.

It is meant to. Section 120 requires the decision-maker to give you particulars of relevant information, meaning information that would be the reason or part of the reason for cancelling, that is specifically about you or another person rather than a class of people, and that you did not give.

If the notice is thin, that is worth raising in the response and worth advice.

s.120

Several, and which one is being used changes the procedure.

Section 109 deals with incorrect information and runs through its own steps: a notice about the non-compliance under section 107, a decision under section 108 that there was non-compliance, and then the power to cancel.

Section 116 is the general power. Section 128 allows cancellation without notice where you are outside Australia. Section 501 deals with character and has its own regime entirely.

s.107–s.109, s.116, s.128, s.501

The main ones are that a fact the grant was based on no longer exists or never existed, that you have not complied with a condition of the visa, that another person required to comply with a condition has not, that your presence is or may be a risk to the health, safety or good order of the community or to an individual, that the visa should not have been granted, and that a prescribed ground applies.

There is a ground specific to student visas, covering a holder who is not or is likely not to be a genuine student, or who has engaged in conduct not contemplated by the visa.

Three further powers sit alongside: where the Minister is not satisfied as to your identity, where incorrect information was given outside a visa application, and where a benefit was asked for or given in return for a sponsorship-related event.

s.116(1), s.116(1AA), s.116(1AB), s.116(1AC)

Yes. Both section 109 and section 116 say that where prescribed circumstances exist, the Minister must cancel rather than may.

The prescribed circumstances are in the Regulations, not the Act, which is why reading the section alone can leave you with the wrong impression about how much discretion there is.

s.109(2), s.116(3) · reg 2.43

Yes, and without notice first. Section 128 allows cancellation without notice where there is a ground under section 116 and you are outside Australia.

You are notified afterwards under section 129, and that notice invites you to show within a prescribed time that the ground does not exist or that the visa should not have been cancelled. People find out when they try to board a flight, so the notice may reach you late.

s.128, s.129

The Minister must cancel where two things are both true: you do not pass the character test because of a substantial criminal record or a sexually based offence involving a child, and you are serving a sentence of imprisonment on a full-time basis in a custodial institution.

There is no discretion at that stage. The discretion comes later, at revocation.

s.501(3A)

It is defined. It includes a sentence of imprisonment for 12 months or more, and two or more sentences where the total is 12 months or more. It also covers a sentence of death or life imprisonment, and certain findings where a person was acquitted on grounds of unsoundness of mind or found unfit to plead.

The length of the sentence is what counts, not the time actually served.

s.501(7)

Revocation. After the cancellation you must be given written notice and invited to make representations about revoking it, within the period and in the manner set by the Regulations.

The decision can be revoked if the Minister is satisfied you pass the character test, or that there is another reason why it should be revoked. That second limb is where most revocation cases are actually run.

This is serious work with short timeframes, and the consequences of getting it wrong are permanent. If you are in this position, get help immediately – from us, or from an immigration lawyer if the matter has reached a stage where legal proceedings are in contemplation.

s.501CA

Usually not, if you are in Australia without a substantive visa. Section 48 limits someone in that position to applying for a prescribed class of visa, and only that.

The bar is triggered by a refusal after you last entered Australia, or by a cancellation under section 109, 116, 133A, 133C, 134, 137J or 137Q.

Two things it does not catch: a refusal of a bridging visa, and a refusal under section 501, 501A or 501B. The prescribed classes are in the Regulations.

s.48 · reg 2.12

It depends on which power was used and where you were. Some cancellation decisions are reviewable at the Administrative Review Tribunal and some are not, and decisions made by the Minister personally generally are not.

Your notice should tell you. Section 109 requires the notice to state that the decision can be reviewed, the time for applying, who can apply and where, when a review right exists.

If a review right exists, the time limit is set by law, counted in days, and generally cannot be extended. Representing you at the Tribunal is work a registered migration agent is authorised to do.

s.109(3) · reg 4.02

They can be affected. There is a power to cancel the visas of family members consequentially on the cancellation of the primary holder's visa.

If your visa is under threat, the position of everyone who holds a visa through you needs to be dealt with at the same time, not afterwards.

s.140

Yes. Beyond the section 48 bar, a cancellation can engage public interest criteria that impose exclusion periods on later applications, and several visas ask whether you have complied substantially with the conditions of previous visas.

That is the practical reason to fight a cancellation properly at the notice stage rather than treating it as one visa lost.

Schedule 4, PIC 4013 and 4014