What changed on 1 November 2026
If you want the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) to review a decision to refuse or cancel your protection visa, you will usually now have to pay a fee of $1,863.50 when you apply. The same applies to a review of a decision that a protection finding would no longer be made about you.
This is a new way of charging. Before 1 November 2026 nothing was payable when you applied, and a fee was usually charged only if the review was unsuccessful.
The ART explains the fee, who must pay it and when on its fees page.
Read the ART page on application fees
Not every protection decision is covered
The ART says upfront fees now apply to most reviews of protection decisions, not all of them. If a protection visa was refused or cancelled on character grounds, the ART reviews it in a different way, and its fees page says the ART's standard application fee, currently $1,195, applies to character-related refusals and cancellations instead. Some decisions cannot be reviewed by the ART at all, for example where the Minister has issued a conclusive certificate. Your decision letter should tell you whether you can apply for review.
Pay with your application, or it is not valid
This is the most important point. Unless one of the two exemptions below applies to you, the fee must be paid together with your review application. An application lodged without the fee is not a valid application, and the ART has no power to extend the time limit. If the deadline passes before you pay, you can lose your right to a review.
The ART's online form will not let you submit until the fee is paid, unless you are exempt. If you started an online application but did not submit it before 12:00 am (AEDT) on Sunday 1 November 2026, you need to start a new application and pay the fee before you submit it.
Read the ART announcement of 1 November 2026
Who does not have to pay
There are two situations where the fee is not payable. The first is where you are in immigration detention at the time you make the review application. The second is where your application is combined with another review application for which the fee has already been paid. The ART decides whether applications can be combined.
Apart from these two situations, the ART says it cannot reduce or waive this fee. The 50% reduction for financial hardship that is available for some other migration reviews does not apply to protection reviews.
When you get your money back
The whole fee is refunded if the ART finds that your application was not valid or that the decision could not be reviewed. It is also refunded if the ART changes the decision, sends your case back to the Department of Home Affairs to decide again, or sets the decision aside and makes a new one.
Two other situations also lead to a full refund. One is where the Minister issues a conclusive certificate about the decision, or personally replaces the ART's decision with one that is more favourable to you. The other is where the application is withdrawn because the applicant has died.
If your review is not successful, you do not get a refund.
If you applied before 1 November 2026
The old rules still apply to review applications made before 1 November 2026. You did not pay a fee when you applied. If the review is unsuccessful, a fee becomes payable after the decision and the ART will send you an invoice, payable within 7 days. That fee is a different amount from the new upfront fee, and the ART will tell you how much it is.
Where the rules come from
The change was made by the Migration Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2026, which amend the Migration Regulations 1994. The new fee is set at half of the fee for reviewing other migration decisions, which the ART currently lists as $3,727. That fee is indexed each year, so the protection review fee can change over time.
Read the amending regulations on the Federal Register of Legislation
What to do now
Check the time limit in your Department of Home Affairs decision letter as soon as you receive it. The time limit is set by law and depends on the type of decision and on whether you are in immigration detention. Arrange the fee well before the deadline, keep proof of payment, and get advice early if you are unsure whether the fee applies to you.
Read about ART reviews of visa refusals and cancellations
See our other recent migration updates
To talk about your situation, Book a Consultation from the top of this page, or message us on WhatsApp on +61 478 278 410.
General information only, not legal advice. EMC Australia, MARN 1800335.