DHA may cancel your visa if you do not abide by visa conditions. A lodged visa application may also be refused if documents are not supplied in time or don’t meet requirements.
All non-citizens can potentially have a visa canceled, whether the visa held is permanent, temporary or substantive.
Generally, power to cancel a visa is discretionary. This means that even if there are grounds for cancellation, DHA does not have to cancel the visa. There are also circumstances in which a visa must be canceled.
In most cases, the visa holder will be given prior warning of DHA intention to cancel the visa, and an opportunity to respond. If the DHA decides to cancel a visa, the right to a merits review depends on which cancellation power was used to cancel the visa, and whether the person was in Australia when their visa was canceled. Where a merits review is unavailable, there may be an option to seek judicial review in a court.
If a visa is canceled and the person does not have another valid visa, that person becomes an unlawful non-citizen and loses their right to remain in Australia. They may then be detained and removed.
Visas can be canceled for any of the following reasons:
- incorrect information given to DHA or in a skill assessment
- fake documents provided
- visa conditions being breached or other requirements not being met (this is the ‘general’ cancellation power)
- student visa holders not meeting course attendance or academic performance conditions
- Employer Sponsored visa holder not commencing work.