What harm is feared?
Identify what the person believes will happen, who may cause it and why the risk is personal and current.
Protection Visa 866: Get Advice Before You Apply
Protection visas are for genuine asylum seekers who face persecution or significant harm—not for people who simply want to remain in Australia longer.
MARN 2519006 Confidential circumstances Reviewed 22 July 2026
Do not lodge a Protection visa with invented, exaggerated or copied claims. You are responsible for the truth and completeness of the application even if another person prepares it. False information or documents can lead to refusal, cancellation and serious legal and future-visa consequences.
Who subclass 866 is designed for
A permanent Protection visa may be available to a person in Australia who engages Australia's protection obligations and meets every other criterion.
- Arrival: generally arrived legally while holding a visa in effect and was immigration cleared.
- Location: is in Australia when making the application.
- Protection: faces a real chance of persecution for a Convention reason or a real risk of significant harm, subject to the legal tests and exclusions.
- Other criteria: meets identity, health, character, security and application-validity requirements.
- Application bars: checks any previous protection refusal, cancellation, arrival status or visa history that may prevent a valid application.
Questions a protection assessment must address
The legal tests are fact-specific. A credible account needs details, context and evidence—not legal phrases copied from another case.
Why would it happen?
Explain any connection to race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, or the complementary-protection test.
Can authorities protect?
Address whether effective protection is available from authorities in the country concerned.
Is relocation reasonable and safe?
Consider whether the person could avoid the risk elsewhere in the country under the applicable legal test.
Are exclusions relevant?
Serious criminality, security, conduct and other statutory exclusions require specialist assessment.
Does prior history match?
Compare the account with prior visa forms, interviews, travel, employment, addresses and statements.
Build a complete, consistent evidence record
Home Affairs can decide the application using the material provided. Explain unavailable records and gaps rather than leaving them unexplained.
- Identity and nationality: current and expired passports, birth records, identity cards, name changes and citizenship evidence.
- Personal chronology: residences, education, employment, travel, incidents and contact with authorities without unexplained gaps.
- Claim evidence: reports, messages, photographs, medical records, complaints, summonses or other genuine records relevant to the events.
- Witness material: specific first-hand knowledge, identity and an explanation of how the witness knows the facts.
- Country information: reliable, current material connected to the person's circumstances—not a general bundle without analysis.
- Translations: clear copies and proper English translations following current requirements.
After a Protection visa application
Application lodgement does not answer every visa-status, work or travel question.
Acknowledgement
Keep the application, TRN and all uploaded evidence accessible in ImmiAccount.
Bridging status
Home Affairs may grant a bridging visa. Check when it starts and every work or reporting condition in VEVO.
Biometrics and health
Complete requested biometrics and health steps within the stated timeframe.
Further information
Answer requests accurately and by the deadline; update relevant changes in circumstances and contact details.
Decision
If refused, read the notice immediately for any ART review right and strict application deadline.
If a protection decision is refused
The Administrative Review Tribunal can review some protection refusals and cancellations. The decision letter identifies whether review is available, who may apply and the deadline.
The ART states that it has no power to extend the statutory time limit for migration and protection reviews. Do not wait to prepare every piece of evidence before securing a valid review application.
Open refusal and ART guideNeed a confidential protection eligibility review?
Do not send sensitive claim details through ordinary chat. Request a confidential appointment and bring identity, visa history and any existing decision documents.