What Happens If My 117 Visa Is Refused? Review Rights and Reapplying in 2026

If an Orphan Relative visa (Subclass 117) application is refused, the Australian Department of Home Affairs tells you in writing why it was refused and whether the decision carries a right to review, and the application charge is not refunded. That is stated on the Department's Orphan Relative visa (Subclass 117) official page; the criteria and evidence rules below come from the same page and from Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994. This is general information about how the rules are written rather than advice on an individual case — your own decision letter and the current official wording are what actually govern your options.

What does a 117 refusal letter actually tell you?

Three things matter, and the official page commits the Department to all three:

• The reason for the refusal. The Department states it will tell you why the visa was refused.
• Whether the decision can be reviewed. The Department states it will tell you whether there is a right to a review of the decision.
• That the fee is gone. "We will not refund the application fee if we refuse the application."

The page also advises keeping a copy of the decision. Do that before anything else, because the rest of your planning depends on the exact wording: review rights, the ground of refusal, and any date attached to the decision are all communicated through that letter rather than through the visa page.

Does every 117 refusal come with a right to review?

No. The wording on the official page is conditional — the Department will tell you whether there is a right to review — which means review is not automatic and the letter is the authority on your case. Where the refusal turned on a criterion that the Department assessed as simply not met, the practical question is whether the assessment was wrong or whether the evidence was genuinely missing.

Sponsorship is the most common place this distinction bites. Sponsorship must be approved before the visa can be granted, and the Department states that if the sponsor or their spouse or de facto partner has a pending registrable offence charge, it will refuse both the sponsorship and the visa application; a conviction means sponsorship can be approved only in very limited circumstances. If your refusal letter points at the sponsorship rather than at the child's circumstances, the review path — if one is offered — may run to a different decision than the one you expect.

Time limits are not published on the Subclass 117 page, so the period that applies to you, if any, is the one stated in the decision paperwork you received. Treat the date in that paperwork as binding: procedural deadlines are strict, and a strong case filed late is still a late case.

Can I get the application fee back?

No, and the official page states it without conditions. A refused Subclass 117 application is not refunded, and this is worth factoring into the decision before you spend anything else: a fresh application is a new application with its own charge, payable before the papers are lodged. Combined with the rule that applications are not processed until the charge is paid, the cost of a second attempt is real money regardless of which route you take.

Why was it refused? Reading the reason against the criteria

Refusal reasons generally map back to a criterion or a public interest criterion (PIC) that was not satisfied. Matching the sentence in your letter to the rule behind it tells you whether the gap is fixable with evidence or structural.

Two structural points from the Regulations are easy to miss. First, a child who was under 18 when applying can still be granted the visa if they turn 18 before the decision — the age test is applied at the time of application. Second, the Regulations treat the family unit as a package: a family member who fails the relevant criteria can bring the whole application down, so a refusal naming a dependent child is not a side issue.

The Regulations also describe a three-year bar as a possible consequence of a PIC 4020 finding on false or misleading information. Because that is a provision whose effect and currency matter enormously, confirm it against the Department's current official wording before deciding anything that depends on it.

Review or reapply: how do you choose?

Work through it in this order.

Start with the letter. If it says there is no right to review, a fresh application is your route. If it says there is one, note the deadline immediately.

Ask what the disagreement is about. A review asks someone to look again at the decision that was made. It fits when the reason given does not match the evidence you already lodged, or when a rule was applied to facts that are not your facts. It is a poor fit when the honest answer is "the document wasn't there."

Count what changed since the decision. New evidence, a repaid debt, fresh health or police certificates, a sponsor whose circumstances have moved on, or a welfare plan that now exists in writing — all of these belong in a fresh application rather than in an argument about the old one. Note that police certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date, so a certificate that has aged out is itself a reason to re-lodge rather than to argue.

Check for a bar. If the refusal involved false or misleading information, find out whether a bar period applies before paying another charge.

Remember the location rule. The child must be outside Australia both when the application is made and when the decision is made. If a review is running and the child's location has become uncertain, that constraint affects whichever route you pick.

What does a fresh application have to look like?

Validity is unforgiving, and an invalid application is not processed at all. The Department's step-by-step guide requires Form 47CH (Application for migration to Australia by a child) and Form 40CH (Sponsorship for a child to migrate to Australia), completed in English, sent together by post with correct prepaid postage or by courier to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth, with the application charge paid before posting. Submitting to any other office, or in person, does not produce a valid application. Send certified copies only and keep your own copy of everything.

On evidence, the same guide is specific about what closes the gaps that cause refusals:

• No parent able to care: a death certificate or other official document, or a medical report showing why the parents cannot care for the child. Where parents cannot be found, evidence of how long they have been missing and what efforts were made to contact or find them.
• Relationship to the Australian relative: birth, marriage or adoption certificates, or an officially issued and maintained family status certificate or family book.
• Identity: passport pages showing photo, personal details and issue and expiry dates; national identity card if there is one; proof of name change where applicable; four recent 45mm x 35mm photographs, less than six months old.
• Character for children 16 or over: police certificates from every country where they spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 16, plus Form 80. Military service records or discharge papers where anyone in the application served in armed forces.
• Consent: written consent from everyone who can legally decide where the child lives, or proof that the home country's law allows the child to leave, or consistency with any registered Australian child order.

If something in your previous paperwork was simply wrong, Form 1023 (Notification of incorrect answers) is the form the Department provides for that, and changes in circumstances — address, passport, relationship status, a new child — are meant to be notified rather than discovered later.

While a new application is pending

Do not arrange travel for the child until the Department advises in writing that the visa has been granted. The Department will tell you when to arrange health examinations and whether biometrics are needed, and it may ask for more information; if the application has been imported into ImmiAccount, additional documents go there, otherwise through the Child and Orphan Relative Visa Processing Centre online form. The Department does not provide progress updates within normal processing times, and dependent children can be added any time before a decision is made.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I appeal a refused Subclass 117 visa?

Only if your decision letter says a review right exists — the Department's official page commits to telling you whether the decision can be reviewed, which means it is not automatic for every refusal. Read the letter first and note any deadline it sets out, because the visa page itself publishes no review timeframe.

Will the application fee be refunded after a refusal?

No. The Department states plainly that the application fee is not refunded if the application is refused, and a fresh application carries its own charge payable before lodgement. Plan for the second attempt as a new cost rather than a continuation of the first.

How long do I have to ask for a review?

The Subclass 117 page does not publish a review deadline, so the period that applies is the one set out in your decision paperwork, and you should treat that date as binding. Confirm it against the Department's current official guidance, since procedural time limits are applied strictly.

Is it better to reapply than to seek review?

It depends on what is missing. A review suits a case where the evidence was already lodged and you believe the decision misapplied the rules; a fresh application suits a case where the gap is new evidence, changed circumstances, or a criterion that was genuinely not met at the time. A fresh application does not undo the earlier decision and does not pause any review deadline.

What if the refusal was about the sponsor?

Sponsorship must be approved before the visa can be granted, and a pending registrable offence charge against the sponsor or their spouse or de facto partner leads the Department to refuse both the sponsorship and the visa application. Any new attempt needs a sponsorship that can be approved, which usually means resolving the sponsor's issue before lodging again.

The letter mentions false or misleading information. What now?

That engages PIC 4020, and the Regulations describe a three-year bar as a possible consequence, so the first step is to establish whether a bar period applies to you before paying another charge. Verify the current official wording, as provisions of this kind are amended and their effect depends on the version in force.

Can the child travel to Australia while we work this out?

No — the Department advises not to arrange travel until it has advised in writing that the visa is granted. The child must also be outside Australia when the application is made and when the decision is made for the visa to be granted at all.

References

• Australian Department of Home Affairs — Orphan Relative visa (Subclass 117)
• Federal Register of Legislation — Migration Regulations 1994