Does the section 48 bar apply while I am waiting for my ART review?

Yes. The bar attaches from the date your visa was refused or cancelled, not from when your review is finalised. While you wait for the Administrative Review Tribunal on a bridging visa, you remain barred from lodging most new onshore applications. If the refusal is overturned on review, the section 48 problem falls away with it.

Which visas can I still apply for onshore if I am section 48 barred?

Regulation 2.12 of the Migration Regulations 1994 prescribes the exceptions. The most common are partner visas (subclass 820/801), protection visas (subclass 866), medical treatment visas (subclass 602), Special Category visas (subclass 444), bridging visas, and — in limited SkillSelect-invited cases — certain skilled visas. The right choice depends entirely on your circumstances.

Can I apply for a partner visa in Australia if I am section 48 barred?

Yes, the partner visa is an exempt subclass, so the bar does not stop you lodging it onshore. But because you will not hold a substantive visa, you also have to satisfy the Schedule 3 criteria unless the Department accepts there are compelling reasons to waive them. That waiver is where many onshore partner applications are lost, so the evidence you file at lodgement is critical.

What is the difference between section 48 and section 48A?

Section 48 is the general bar on applying for most visas onshore after a refusal or cancellation. Section 48A is a separate, specific bar on making a further protection visa application after a protection visa has been refused or cancelled. Only the Minister can lift the section 48A bar, using the personal power in section 48B.

Does leaving Australia remove the section 48 bar?

Section 48 only applies to applications made while you are in Australia. If you depart and apply from offshore, the bar does not apply to that application. For some people this is the most certain path forward, although it needs to be weighed against the disruption and the requirements of the offshore visa you intend to apply for.

Can the Minister waive the section 48 bar?

There is no general ministerial power to waive section 48 so that you can lodge a new application. For protection visas, the Minister can lift the section 48A bar under section 48B. More broadly, after a review decision the Minister may substitute a more favourable outcome under section 351, assessed against the ten criteria in the 17 September 2025 Ministerial Instructions — but that operates on the decision, not as a way around section 48.

Section 48 Bar Australia: Exemptions and Your Options

The section 48 bar is one of the most misunderstood provisions in Australian immigration law. It catches people at their most vulnerable — after a visa refusal, still in Australia, unsure what they can do next.

I have acted for many people in exactly this position. The bar is strict, but it is not the dead end it first appears. What matters is knowing precisely which applications remain open to you, and not making it worse by lodging the wrong one.

What is the section 48 bar?

Section 48 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) stops a person who is in Australia, and who does not hold a substantive visa, from applying for most visas onshore if — since they last entered Australia — they have had a visa application refused or a visa cancelled.

A "substantive visa" is any visa other than a bridging visa, a criminal justice visa or an enforcement visa. So once your substantive visa has expired and you are living on a bridging visa after a refusal, the bar bites.

The purpose is to stop repeated, unmeritorious onshore applications being used to prolong a stay. It applies automatically. A case officer has no discretion to set it aside because your circumstances are sympathetic.

When does the bar apply to you?

You are physically present in the migration zone (in Australia).
You do not hold a substantive visa.
Since you last entered Australia, a visa application has been refused, or a visa has been cancelled.

The bar attaches from the moment of the refusal or cancellation — not from when your review runs out. This is the point most people miss.

If you are refused, apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), and remain in Australia on a bridging visa, you are barred throughout the review. You cannot simply lodge a fresh application while you wait.

One important nuance: it is the refusal since your last entry that counts. If you departed and re-entered Australia after the refusal on a new substantive visa, the earlier refusal no longer triggers the bar.

Which visas can you still apply for?

Section 48 does not bar everything. Regulation 2.12 of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) prescribes the visa subclasses you can still lodge onshore despite the bar. The most commonly relevant are:

The partner visa exemption is the one I use most often. A person barred under section 48 can still lodge a subclass 820 partner application onshore — but that pathway carries its own trap, which I explain next.

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