Student visa cancellation is common problem for International students. Cancelling visas is at the discretion of the Department. If the Department of Immigration cancel your and also your family members.

Reasons why your Visa may be cancelled

Immigration can cancel your visa if:

• you were non-compliant with visa conditions
• you did not meet our character requirements
• you provided false information on your visa application

If you are in Australia

If you are in Australia or immigration clearance we will usually notify you of our intention to consider cancelling your visa, the immigration will give you the opportunity to put forward reasons why the department of immigration should not cancel your visa.

Character requirements for visas

You must be of good character to visit or remain in Australia. This means you must meet our character requirements, and remain of good character.

The character requirements are set out under section 501 of the Migration Act 1958. They help us decide if you are of good character.

You may not meet the character requirements if:

• you have a substantial criminal record
• you have been convicted of, had a charge proven for or have been found guilty of a sexually based crime involving a child
• you have been convicted of escaping from immigration detention, or convicted for an offence that you committed:
  • while you were in immigration detention
  • during an escape from immigration detention
  • after an escape, but before you were taken into immigration detention again
• you are or have been a member of a group or organisation, or had or have an association with a person, group or organisation that the Minister reasonably suspects of being involved in criminal conduct
• the Minister reasonably suspects that you have been involved in people smuggling, people trafficking, genocide, a war crime, a crime against humanity, a crime involving torture or slavery, or a crime that is of serious international concern, whether or not you have been convicted of such an offence
• your past and present criminal or general conduct shows that you are not of good character
• there is a risk that while you are in Australia you would:
  • engage in criminal conduct
  • harass, molest, intimidate or stalk another person
  • vilify a segment of the Australian community
  • incite discord in the Australian community or in a part of it
  • be a danger to the Australian community or a part of it
• you are subject to an adverse security assessment by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
• you are subject to an Interpol notice, from which it is reasonable to infer that you are a direct or indirect risk to the Australian community, or a segment of the Australian community
• you are or have been convicted of a domestic violence offence or have ever been subject to a domestic violence order

Where you appear to fail the character requirements, we will give you an opportunity to put forward reasons why we should not cancel your visa before we cancel your visa.

Refusal or cancellation

Cancellation of your visa might bar you from making further visa applications. It may prevent you from being granted certain visas to travel to, enter or stay in Australia.

Refused or cancelled visa due to concerns about your character

If you do not meet character requirements, the Minister or a delegate can refuse your application or cancel your visa.

To decide if you meet character requirements, we consider a variety of matters, including:

• the protection of the Australian community
• the best interests of any children in Australia
• Australia’s international legal responsibilities
• the impact of visa refusal or cancellation on your family in Australia
• any impact on Australian business and community interests

Character decisions require consideration of a range of factors. When making a decision, departmental delegates refer to a Ministerial Direction. This sets out the considerations they must balance when considering whether to refuse or cancel someone’s visa on character grounds.

If you have had a visa refused or cancelled on character grounds since you last arrived in Australia the only visa you can apply for is a Protection visa.

If we remove you from Australia on character grounds, you may have difficulty satisfying the character requirements when applying for another visa to re-enter Australia.

Mandatory cancellation

By law, the Department of Immigration must cancel your visa if you are serving a sentence in a prison full-time for an Australian crime, and you have:

• been sentenced to death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for longer than a year.
• been convicted of a sexually based crime involving a child by an Australian or foreign court.
• had a charge proven for a sexually based crime involving a child, even if you were discharged without conviction.
• been found guilty of a sexually based crime involving a child, even if you were discharged without conviction.

If the Department of Immigration must cancel your visa, you have 28 days to request revocation of the cancellation. Revocation of the cancellation decision would have the effect of restoring your visa.

Paying for sponsorship

The Department of Immigration may cancel your visa if you are involved in paying for visa sponsorship.

Immigration consider all circumstances before making a decision. This will include:

• if you initiated or were complicit in the paying for sponsorship
• your intent in coming forward (whistle-blower, actively providing us with information)

Immigration may not cancel a visa if your payments were due to threats or exploitation (human trafficking or slavery). You should give us all relevant information if that is the case.

You will have a chance to put forward reasons why we should not cancel your visa. You should include evidence showing: 

• the strength of your ties to Australia and
• your contribution to the Australian community.

Changes to study

Immigration may cancel your student visa if you are no longer enrolled in a registered course.

Your enrolment ends when you complete the course, even if this is earlier than the end date on your Confirmation of Enrolment.

What you must do after you complete your course depends on your enrolment arrangement.

If you complete the course associated with your student visa, you will have 3 months to depart Australia or apply for another visa.

We may cancel your visa in these situations:

• you complete the course for which we granted your student visa and you do not leave Australia or apply for a new visa within 3 months
• you have changed courses since we granted your student visa and your new Confirmation of Enrolment for your principal course has an earlier end date and you do not leave Australia or apply for a new visa within 28 days of completing the course
• you are studying more than one course on your visa (course packaging) and you finish a course early and have a gap between courses of more than 2 months (except if this gap occurs between the end of an academic year and the beginning of a new academic year)

Before we cancel your student visa, we will consider your situation. This includes if:

• you legitimately finished the course early
• you have a good academic record
• it is reasonable to expect you to enrol in another course during the course gap

We may also cancel your visa if you are non-compliant with any other student visa conditions. Check your visa conditions in Visa Entitlement Verification Online VEVO.

Biosecurity contraventions

It is important to declare certain food, plant material and animal items from overseas as these items may:

• introduce serious pests and diseases into Australia and
• devastate our valuable agriculture and tourism industries and our unique environment.

The Minister has the power to cancel some visitor, student and work visas in immigration clearance if you:

• fail to meet the requirements to answer questions about goods on your incoming passenger card
• do not follow directions given by a Biosecurity officer in relation to goods or baggage
• provide false or misleading information or documents to a Biosecurity officer.

More information about Australia’s Biosecurity laws is available at Department of Agriculture and Water Resources website.

Importation of objectionable goods

The Minister has the power to cancel a temporary visa if you import objectionable goods and materials without permission.

Objectionable goods includes material that describes, depicts, expresses or otherwise deals with matters of:

• sex
• drug misuse or addiction
• crime
• cruelty
• violence or
• revolting or abhorrent phenomena in a way that would offend a reasonable adult.

It also includes goods that depict children under 18 years of age in a way that would:

• offend a reasonable adult
• promote crime or violence
• promote drug misuse or
• advocate the doing of a terrorist act.

For more information about prohibited goods and materials see: List of prohibited items

Criminal Justice Entry visas

If you have a Criminal Justice Entry visa, or you stayed in Australia after we cancelled your Criminal Justice Entry visa, the only visa you can apply for is a Protection visa.

Refused a Protection visa

You can’t apply for a Protection visa again if, since you last entered Australia, we refused you a Protection visa.

You can only make an application for another Protection visa if the Minister decides it is in the public interest to let you submit a further application.

Request a visa cancellation

If you hold a temporary visa with more than 6 months validity, you may request visa cancellation of your visa through ImmiAccount. Only the visa holder or an authorised agent may make a request.

We will not process any requests to cancel visas that have less than 6 months validity.

You are able to access your superannuation once we have cancelled your visa or it has expired. See Access your super.