Visa cancellations
A cancellation notice is a legal emergency. The response windows are measured in days, and what you file first shapes everything that follows — the revocation request, the ART review and any court challenge.
Count the days
Mandatory s 501(3A) cancellations allow 28 days to request revocation. NOICC responses and ART deadlines can be far shorter — especially in detention. Date-stamp your notice and act immediately.
Urgent intakeLegal grounds
s 501 Character
Refusal or cancellation where the character test is failed — including mandatory cancellation under s 501(3A) for people serving a sentence with a ‘substantial criminal record’. We act in revocation requests and reviews. See the character test explained.
s 116 Discretionary
Cancellation for breach of visa conditions (work, study, attendance), changed circumstances or claimed risk to the community. The Department must give you natural justice — and a considered response can stop cancellation before it happens.
s 109 Incorrect Information
Cancellation for non-compliance with ss 101–105 — incorrect answers or undeclared changes in circumstances, even innocent ones. The decision is discretionary: context, materiality and fairness all matter.
PIC 4020 integrity
Refusals built on allegations of bogus documents or false or misleading information — with exclusion periods attached. Allegations must be answered forensically, document by document.
EGH19 v Commonwealth
In EGH19 v Commonwealth [2026] HCA 7, the High Court held that curfew and electronic-monitoring conditions imposed on Bridging R (subclass 070) visas were invalid: punishing people is exclusively a job for courts under Chapter III of the Constitution, and the regulation-making power in the Migration Act cannot be used to impose punitive conditions. It is the second decision in this line after YBFZ (2024).
For people in the affected cohort — and for anyone facing character-based cancellation — the message is practical: the conditions attached to your visa may themselves be open to challenge, and the boundaries of the Department’s powers are being actively litigated and redrawn.
What this means for you
- • BVR holders: curfew and monitoring conditions of the kind struck down are no longer enforceable — have your current conditions reviewed.
- • Character clients: condition-validity and constitutional arguments now sit alongside revocation and merits review as live strategies.
- • Expect further regulation redrafting — advice from 2025 or earlier may already be out of date.
Respond at the NOICC stage
A Notice of Intention to Consider Cancellation (NOICC) is the Department telling you it is thinking about cancelling — and inviting your response. This is the single most valuable moment in the process: a well-evidenced response can stop the cancellation before it exists, avoiding years of tribunal and court proceedings.
s 501(3A) Revocation — 28 days
If your visa was mandatorily cancelled while you were serving a sentence, you have 28 days to request revocation. Submissions address the current ministerial direction: ties to Australia, the best interests of children, rehabilitation, and the expectations of the community.
ART review of cancellations
Many cancellation and non-revocation decisions are reviewable by the ART on extremely tight timeframes (application fee $3,727 for most migration reviews as at 3 July 2026). Character matters have some of the shortest windows in the entire system.
Court challenge
Where the decision — or the process behind it — was legally flawed, judicial review in the Federal Courts is the backstop, including urgent injunctions where removal is imminent.
Fees current as at 3 July 2026 (FY2026-27); the charge at lodgement date applies — confirm at immi.homeaffairs.gov.au and art.gov.au.
Received a notice? Respond properly
Bring the NOICC or cancellation notice to a consultation — we will confirm the deadline, the forum and the strongest available response the same day.