The Section 48 Bar Explained: What You Can Still Apply For Onshore

If your visa was refused or cancelled while you were in Australia, you have probably heard the words "section 48 bar". Here is what the bar actually is, what it stops, what it does not stop, and the decisions that need to be made quickly — verified against the Migration Act 1958 and Migration Regulations 1994 as in force at 18 August 2026.

Under section 48 of the Migration Act, you are barred from applying for most visas while in Australia if all three of these are true:

1. You are in the migration zone (onshore)

2. You do not hold a substantive visa (a bridging visa is not a substantive visa)

3. Since you last entered Australia, a visa application of yours was refused (other than a bridging visa refusal or a refusal under the character powers in s501, 501A or 501B), or a visa you held was cancelled under s109, 116, 133A, 133C, 134, 137J or 137Q

The bar also catches applications made on your behalf — and leaving briefly on a bridging visa B and returning does not reset it: the Act treats that as continuous presence.

What you can still apply for onshore

The bar is not total. Regulation 2.12 prescribes the classes that can still be applied for from inside Australia despite section 48. The list includes:

• Partner visas — subclass 820/801 (the best-known exception, but note the trap below)

• Protection visas
• Medical Treatment — subclass 602
• Child (Residence) — subclass 802/837

• Bridging visas (A through F and R)

• Special Category — subclass 444 (New Zealand citizens)

• Resolution of Status (851), Territorial Asylum (800), Border (773), Retirement (410) and Investor Retirement (405)

• Skilled — Nominated (190), Skilled Work Regional (491) and Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (494) — barred applicants can lodge these onshore, but a state nomination or regional employer nomination is still required in practice, which is the real gate

The trap inside the exception

Being allowed to apply is not the same as being granted. A section-48-barred partner visa applicant, for example, must also satisfy Schedule 3 criteria (or argue compelling reasons to waive them) because they do not hold a substantive visa. This is among the most technical corners of partner visa law — the exception list gets you to the door; the file you lodge decides whether you get through it.

Section 48A — the protection visa bar is different

A person who has been refused a protection visa (or had one cancelled) onshore faces the separate, stricter s48A bar: no further protection visa application in Australia at all, on any grounds, unless the Minister personally lifts the bar under s48B. Do not confuse the two provisions.

What the bar usually means in practice

After an onshore refusal your realistic options are usually:

1. Review at the Administrative Review Tribunal — deadlines are strict and non-extendable (commonly 28 days; your decision letter governs). A successful review means the refusal is set aside and the bar question falls away

2. An excepted application from the reg 2.12 list, if you genuinely qualify

3. Departing Australia and applying offshore, where section 48 does not apply

The order you consider them matters, because the ART deadline expires first — once it is gone, that option is gone permanently. Our visa refusals and appeals guide covers the review pathway, fees and current Tribunal times.

Get the strategy settled before you lodge anything

Every application a barred person lodges consumes time, money and — if it fails — credibility with the Department. From our office in Slacks Creek, Logan City, Migration Vision maps the whole decision tree first: review prospects, excepted-visa eligibility, Schedule 3 strength, and the offshore route, before anything is lodged.

Reviewed by Dr Asad Muhammad Khan, Registered Migration Agent, MARN 2619525. Updated 18 August 2026 — verified against the Migration Act 1958 (Compilation No. 171) and Migration Regulations 1994 (Compilation No. 288, reg 2.12) on legislation.gov.au. This article is general information, not migration advice for your circumstances.