Complete process guide
A 485 refusal in Australia: the deadline, the section 48 bar, and what leaving actually costs
Updated Jul 27, 2026
Written and checked by the QueueCheck editorial team. Last checked July 27, 2026. How we verify information
A subclass 485 refusal rarely arrives as a judgment on someone's life. It commonly arrives as a technicality: an English test sat on the wrong side of a date, evidence that reached the department after a deadline, a document that did not match a requirement in the way the rules demand. The consequences, though, are not proportionate to how small the trigger was, and they start moving immediately.
This guide explains the machinery that engages after an onshore refusal: the review deadline that cannot be extended, the section 48 bar that closes most onshore applications, what a bridging visa actually holds together, and why departing Australia is a decision with consequences that are hard to reverse. It is process explanation, not advice. Anyone in this position should be talking to a registered migration agent or an immigration lawyer, and the single most useful thing this page can do is explain why that conversation is urgent rather than eventual.
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What happens after the refusal, stage by stage
Review periods differ by decision type, and the refusal notice itself states the deadline and the review rights that apply to your decision. Treat the notice as the authority and this guide as the map of what the notice is describing.
- 1The refusal notice arrives
- 2The review window
- 3Lodging review, and the bridging visa that follows
- 4The review runs
- 5The outcome
- 6After an unsuccessful review
The refusal notice arrives
Day 0, and the clock starts hereThe notice states the reasons, whether the decision is reviewable, where review lies, and the deadline. Those four things drive every decision that follows, and the date of notification rather than the date you read it is commonly what starts the count.
The review window
Short, and commonly 21 days for onshore migration decisionsMerits review of most onshore visa refusals goes to the Administrative Review Tribunal, which replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in late 2024, so older guidance referring to an AAT appeal is describing the same route under its former name. The period is set by regulation, the tribunal cannot extend it, and missing it ends review rights permanently.
Lodging review, and the bridging visa that follows
On lodgementA valid review application generally results in a bridging visa that keeps you lawfully in Australia while the review runs. Work rights attached to that bridging visa depend on the visa and its conditions rather than on the review itself, which is one of the first practical questions to put to an adviser.
The review runs
Long, and measured in many monthsThe tribunal reviews the decision afresh on the material before it, which is why refusals turning on a discrete factual or evidentiary point are the kind of decision merits review exists to examine. Waiting times are substantial, and the tribunal publishes its own caseload information.
The outcome
Remitted, affirmed, or something in betweenA remittal sends the application back to the department to be decided again in line with the tribunal's findings. An affirmation leaves the refusal standing, and at that point the remaining routes narrow considerably.
After an unsuccessful review
The narrow endMinisterial intervention exists as a discretionary, non-compellable power rather than a further appeal, and it is granted rarely. Other pathways may exist depending on the exemptions discussed below, and this is squarely professional-advice territory rather than forum territory.
The deadline is the whole game
Everything else in this guide is optional reading compared with the deadline printed on the refusal notice. Review periods for migration decisions are set by regulation, commonly 21 days for onshore refusals, and the tribunal has no power to extend them. A missed deadline is not a setback to be argued about later; it removes merits review from the list of available options permanently, and it does so without anyone needing to make a further decision.
Advisers push people to lodge first and strategise second because of that asymmetry. Lodging preserves the option and generally produces a bridging visa that keeps you lawful while you work out what to do; not lodging closes a door that no later argument reopens. If the notice is in hand and the date is uncertain, that uncertainty is itself the reason to get professional help the same week rather than the same month.
What the section 48 bar actually does
Section 48 of the Migration Act restricts what a person can apply for from inside Australia after a refusal. It engages where three things are true together: the person is in Australia, does not hold a substantive visa, and has had a visa refused or cancelled since their last entry into the country. Someone on a bridging visa after a refusal typically satisfies all three, which is why the phrase turns up in every conversation about post-refusal options.
The bar is not total. A defined list of visas can still be applied for onshore despite it, and the list has been widened over time, notably when the skilled nominated subclass 190, the skilled work regional subclass 491, and the employer-sponsored regional subclass 494 were added in late 2021. Onshore partner visas and protection visas sit outside the bar as well. Which exemptions are genuinely available to a particular person depends on nomination, sponsorship, occupation, and points realities that no general page can assess, and the exemption list changes, so it needs checking against current departmental guidance rather than an older article.
Why people raise leaving, and what the idea rests on
The leave-and-return suggestion is not folklore, and understanding why makes the risks clearer. The section 48 bar attaches to refusals that happened since the person's last entry into Australia. Departing and re-entering on a new substantive visa therefore puts the refusal before the last entry, which is the mechanism people are describing when they suggest going offshore and coming back. Offshore applications are also not subject to section 48 at all.
So the idea is coherent in principle. What makes it a fork rather than a shortcut is everything it costs on the way, and those costs are covered in the two sections below. An adviser weighing this route is weighing a real option; a person attempting it on forum advice is usually underestimating what has to go right in sequence.
The departure trap
A bridging visa A does not permit re-entry. It ceases when the holder leaves Australia, which means boarding an outbound flight converts a lawful stay into no status at all with nothing automatically waiting on the other side. A bridging visa B exists precisely because travel needs to be authorised in advance, and it has to be applied for and granted before departure rather than sorted out afterwards.
Departure also interacts badly with a pending review. Merits review of an onshore refusal is built around a person who is in Australia, and leaving can end that review or the standing to continue it. The practical result is that the leave-and-return route commonly requires giving up both the current lawful status and the review that was preserving it, in exchange for a visitor visa that has not yet been granted. That trade may still be the right one in a particular case, which is exactly why it belongs in a professional conversation and not a comment thread.
The visitor visa is the part people underestimate
Visitor visas and electronic travel authorities are granted on the basis that the applicant intends a genuine temporary stay. A decision-maker assessing that looks at incentives to remain, and a person with a decade of residence in Australia, children settled in Australian schools, and a recent refusal on the record presents a fact pattern where establishing temporary intention is demanding rather than routine. Nothing about that is unfair or unusual; it is the criterion doing what it was written to do.
The risk does not end at grant, either. Australian Border Force officers assess intention on arrival, and a visa granted offshore can be cancelled at the border where an officer forms the view that the holder does not intend a temporary stay. That is the scenario that turns a plan into a family separated by an international border, and it is the reason honesty at every stage of any such application matters more than presentation.
Choosing who to take advice from
Immigration assistance in Australia is regulated: registered migration agents appear on a public register maintained by the regulator, and Australian legal practitioners can also provide immigration assistance. Checking that whoever advises you appears on that register, or holds a current practising certificate, takes minutes and is the cheapest quality control available in a field where the consequences of bad advice are measured in years.
Bring the refusal notice itself to the first conversation, along with the date it was received, the full history of visas held, and the family circumstances that matter. An adviser's first job is usually to work out which deadlines are running and whether any exemption to the section 48 bar genuinely fits, and both of those questions are answered from documents rather than from a summary.
The situations that follow a refusal
You are not sure whether the review deadline has passed
What helps
Treat this as the most urgent question you have, because it is answerable from the notice and it governs everything else. Get the notice in front of a registered migration agent or immigration lawyer immediately rather than working it out from a general article, since the period runs from notification and the rules on what counts as notification carry their own detail.
Someone has suggested leaving and returning on a visitor visa
What helps
The mechanism behind that suggestion is real, and so are the costs: a bridging visa A ends on departure, a pending review can end with it, and the visitor visa has to be granted to a person whose circumstances make temporary intention hard to establish. Have an adviser price the whole sequence before anyone books a flight.
You want to keep working while this is resolved
What helps
Work rights come from the conditions on whichever bridging visa you hold rather than from having lodged a review, and they are not uniform. Confirm your conditions before relying on them, because working outside them creates a second problem on top of the first one.
Your children are settled in Australian schools
What helps
Family circumstances are relevant to some pathways and to ministerial intervention requests, and they are not a standalone visa route. Document them properly, school enrolments, community ties, length of residence, so that an adviser can use them where they legally count rather than raising them where they do not.
You are pinning hopes on ministerial intervention
What helps
It is a discretionary and non-compellable power rather than an appeal, it generally requires review options to be exhausted first, and it succeeds rarely. Plan as though it will not happen while an adviser assesses whether a request is worth making.
The refusal turned on a date or a document rather than the substance
What helps
That is the kind of discrete point merits review is designed to examine, since the tribunal considers the decision afresh on the material before it. It is not a guarantee of any outcome, and the way the point is presented matters, which is another reason the deadline should be met with professional help rather than after it.
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How long do I have to appeal a 485 refusal in Australia?
The refusal notice states the deadline and the review rights that apply to your decision. For onshore migration decisions the period is commonly 21 days from notification, it is set by regulation, and the tribunal cannot extend it. Missing it ends merits review permanently, which is why lodging first and strategising afterwards is the common professional advice.
What is the section 48 bar?
A restriction on applying for further visas from inside Australia. It engages when someone is in Australia, holds no substantive visa, and has had a visa refused or cancelled since their last entry. A defined list of visas can still be lodged onshore despite it, including the subclasses 190, 491, and 494 added in late 2021, along with onshore partner and protection visas.
Can I leave Australia and come back on an ETA or visitor visa?
The idea rests on something real, because the section 48 bar attaches to refusals occurring since your last entry, so re-entering resets that element. What it costs is substantial: a bridging visa A ceases on departure and does not permit return, a pending review can end when you leave, and the visitor visa still has to be granted to someone whose circumstances make a genuine temporary stay hard to establish. It is a fork to price with an adviser, not a workaround.
Does leaving Australia cancel my bridging visa?
A bridging visa A ceases when you depart and does not allow re-entry. Travel while a matter is on foot generally requires a bridging visa B, applied for and granted before you go. Departing without one converts a lawful stay into no status with nothing waiting on return.
Can I work while my review is pending?
That depends on the conditions attached to the bridging visa you hold rather than on the review being lodged. Check the conditions on your own grant notice and confirm them with an adviser before making commitments, since working outside your conditions creates a separate and serious problem.
Is ministerial intervention a realistic backup?
It is a discretionary power that cannot be compelled, it generally requires review rights to be used first, and it is granted rarely. Treat it as a remote possibility to be assessed by an adviser rather than as the plan that makes other risks acceptable.