Section 48 Bar After a Refusal: What You Can Still Apply For in Australia

The refusal letter is open on the table, and one line keeps coming back. You may not be able to apply for another visa while you are in Australia.

That line is about the section 48 bar. It sounds total, but it is not. The law keeps a defined list of visas you can still apply for from inside Australia.

The bar also only applies when two things are true at the same time. Many people who are worried about it find that one of them is not true for them.

Parents are the group most often caught out. No parent visa is on the onshore list, so a refusal changes where a parent visa can be lodged, not whether a parent can ever get one.

Below you will find what triggers the bar, the full list of visas still open, what it means for parents and partners, and the routes that remain. If you want your refusal letter read first, our MARA-registered team can help.

What is the section 48 bar, and when does it apply?

The section 48 bar stops most visa applications made in Australia when two things are true. You hold no substantive visa, and a visa has been refused or cancelled since you last entered Australia.

The rule is section 48 of the Migration Act 1958. A substantive visa is any visa other than a bridging visa or a criminal justice visa. A student, visitor, work or partner visa counts. A Bridging Visa A does not.

The Department of Home Affairs explains the rule in Form 1026i, Limitations on applications in Australia. Both parts have to be true at once. If you still hold a substantive visa, the bar is not in play yet, even with a refusal on file.

That is why the date your current visa ends is worth knowing exactly. It is printed on your grant letter, and you can confirm it in VEVO, the Home Affairs online visa check.

Does every refusal trigger the section 48 bar?

No. Two common situations sit outside it.

• A bridging visa refusal does not trigger the bar. Form 1026i excludes it, so a refused bridging visa on its own is not what bars you.
• A refusal before your last entry does not count. The rule only looks at what has happened since you last entered Australia.

Two situations narrow your options instead. After a refusal or cancellation on character grounds, only a protection visa can be applied for. Where a protection visa has already been refused since your last entry, another one generally cannot be lodged here unless the Minister decides it is in the public interest.

Which of these applies depends on your decision record, not your memory of it. Have the refusal letter in front of you before you plan anything.

Which visas can you still apply for under the section 48 bar?

You can still apply for the visa classes listed in regulation 2.12 of the Migration Regulations 1994. This is the current list, as at the compilation in force from 1 July 2026.

Source: Migration Regulations 1994, regulation 2.12, compilation 288, checked 8 October 2026.

The subclass 189 visa is not on the list. Points alone will not get an application lodged onshore while the bar applies.

Why Form 1026i does not match this list

• Form 1026i carries a 2018 design date, so it leaves out the 2021 skilled visas.
• It still lists Special Eligibility (Residence), which is no longer on the regulation 2.12 list.
• Use the form for the core rule, and the regulation for the current list of visas.

Partner visas and the section 48 bar

• Partner visas are on the list. Form 1026i says this holds only if the visa refused since your last entry was not itself a Partner (Residence) visa.
• Being able to lodge is not the same as qualifying. An onshore applicant without a substantive visa also has to meet the Schedule 3 criteria, which are only set aside for compelling reasons.
• Our partner visa team can check both points before you lodge.

Can parents apply for a parent visa onshore under the section 48 bar?

No. None of the parent visas is on the regulation 2.12 list. A parent who is barred cannot lodge any parent visa in Australia, but the routes from outside Australia stay open.

This matters most for the aged parent visas, because they can only be lodged in Australia. That covers the Aged Parent visa (subclass 804), the Contributory Aged Parent visa (subclass 864) and the Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 884).

How parents usually end up barred

• A parent on a Visitor visa (subclass 600) applies for another visitor visa in Australia, it is refused, and the first visa then ends.
• An aged parent visa application is refused, and the parent is left on a bridging visa.
• A visitor visa is cancelled, for example for breaching the condition on work.

What a barred parent can still do

• Apply from outside Australia for the Parent visa (subclass 103), the Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143) or the Contributory Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 173). Home Affairs allows these to be lodged in or outside Australia, and the bar only affects the onshore option.
• Seek review of the refusal at the tribunal, where review rights exist.
• Consider the Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 870), which is applied for from outside Australia. Home Affairs says a parent cannot apply for another parent visa while they hold, or have applied for, a subclass 870 visa.

The balance of family test still applies to every permanent parent visa, wherever it is lodged.

If your parents are in Australia now and have had nothing refused, the bar is not their issue. A No Further Stay condition may be. Home Affairs says an onshore subclass 884 application made while on a temporary visa with that condition is invalid unless a waiver is applied for. Our visitor visa for parents guide explains how 8503 gets added.

If a parent’s visa has been refused and you are unsure which route fits, our MARA-registered agents (MARN 2518738) can read the decision with you. Book a parent visa consultation.

How is a No Further Stay condition different from section 48?

They are separate bars with separate remedies, and the same person can face both.

Condition 8503 is attached to a visa when it is granted, and it stops the holder from being granted most further visas while they stay in Australia. It is lifted by asking for a waiver on Form 1447, which requires compelling and compassionate circumstances beyond the person’s control.

Section 48 is not a condition, and it cannot be waived on request. You work around it through the Regulation 2.12 list, or by applying from outside Australia. A waived 8503 does nothing about section 48, and a listed visa does nothing about an unwaived 8503.

What are your options if nothing on the list fits?

There are three, and the right one depends on what was refused and when.

Ask the tribunal to review the decision. Many refusals carry review rights at the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), and the time limit is short. Review does not lift the bar while it runs. If the decision is set aside, though, the refusal behind the bar is removed. Our guide to visa refusal review timelines sets out the steps.

Apply from outside Australia. Section 48 only limits applications made here. Leaving and applying offshore reopens visas that are closed to you onshore. For many families it is the practical route, but it needs planning around your current status.

Get a substantive visa first. If one is granted through a listed visa, the first part of the bar is no longer met. That is why your bridging visa, and what it allows, is worth understanding early. Read our guides to bridging visas in Australia and to whether you can apply for another visa on one.

Where families lose time and money

Four things account for most of the avoidable loss we see, and each one can be checked in advance.

• Lodging an application that was never valid. A barred application is invalid, and charges already made are generally not recoverable.
• Missing the review deadline while researching. Time limits run from when you are taken to have received the decision, so protect that right first.
• Assuming the bar blocks everything. People leave, or become unlawful, without checking the list. Sometimes a listed visa fits.
• Lodging a parent visa onshore after a refusal. The subclass 804, 864 and 884 visas cannot be lodged while the bar applies, but an offshore parent visa often still can.

How The Migration helps after a refusal or cancellation

We see this at our Harris Park office in Sydney most weeks, usually soon after the letter arrives. The first job is rarely the new application. It is working out which bars actually apply.

• We read the decision record for what was refused or cancelled, and when, against your last entry date.
• We check your current visa and its conditions, including 8503, on VEVO and the grant letter.
• We test your circumstances against the regulation 2.12 list, including the skilled options where a nomination is realistic.
• We protect review rights and their deadlines while the longer plan is worked out.
• For parents, we map the offshore parent visa options and the balance of family test before anyone lodges.

Migration advice here is given only by MARA-registered agents (MARN 2518738). You can verify any agent’s registration on the MARA public register. No registered migration agent can guarantee a visa outcome, and nobody can promise a bar will be lifted.

Before you lodge anything

The section 48 bar is narrower than it first sounds. It needs two things true at once, it ignores bridging visa refusals, and it leaves a defined list of visas open.

For parents, the answer is usually about where to lodge, not whether a parent visa is still possible. A subclass 103, 143 or 173 visa applied for from outside Australia is not affected by the bar.

Two documents settle most of it: your refusal letter and your current visa. Our MARA-registered agents (MARN 2518738) will tell you which bars apply and what is realistically open. Book a consultation with The Migration.

Frequently asked questions