Immigration Lawyers › Section 501 Character Cancellation
Section 501 Lawyers — Character Cancellation. Urgent Legal Action Required.
Section 501 of the Migration Act allows the Minister for Home Affairs to cancel or refuse a visa on character grounds — including for a single criminal sentence of 12 months or more. Cancellation leads to mandatory detention and deportation if the decision is not successfully challenged. The review deadline for persons in immigration detention is just 9 days. This is among the most time-critical matters in Australian law — get specialist immigration legal advice immediately.
⚠ If you or a family member has received a notice of intention to cancel or an actual cancellation notice under s501, contact a lawyer today. For persons already in immigration detention, the review deadline is 9 days. Act immediately.
What We Help With
Section 501 matters — at every stage.
Section 501 matters require specialist immigration lawyers who understand both the character test and the review process. Acting at the earliest possible stage — even before cancellation — can make the difference between remaining in Australia and deportation.
Notice of Intention to Consider Cancellation
Before cancellation, the Department typically issues a Notice of Intention to Consider Cancellation (NOICC) and invites representations. A well-prepared response to the NOICC — addressing the character test failure and the relevant discretionary factors — can prevent the cancellation decision being made at all.
AAT Review of s501 Cancellation
Where the cancellation decision is made by a delegate (not the Minister personally), the decision can be reviewed by the AAT. The AAT considers discretionary factors — including time in Australia, family ties, hardship to family members, rehabilitation, and the best interests of any Australian citizen children.
Ministerial Intervention (s501CA)
Where the Minister personally cancels a visa under s501, no AAT review is available — but the affected person can make representations to the Minister under s501CA seeking revocation of the cancellation. This is the only pathway where the Minister personally decided the cancellation.
Federal Court Judicial Review
Where the AAT affirms the cancellation or where judicial review is the only remaining option, an application to the Federal Court can challenge the decision on the basis of legal or jurisdictional error. 35 days from the AAT decision.
Immigration Detention Representation
Where a person is held in immigration detention following visa cancellation, urgent action is needed — including applications for release on a bridging visa, community detention, or an injunction pending court proceedings. Representation from inside detention is both possible and critical.
Long-Term Resident Cases
Section 501 cancellations affecting long-term Australian residents — people who have lived in Australia for decades, have Australian citizen children, and have deep ties to the community — are among the most contested immigration matters. The strength of community and family ties is a primary discretionary factor.
What the Law Says
Section 501 — the character test and the discretion.
Section 501 of the Migration Act 1958 allows the Minister or a delegate to cancel or refuse a visa where the person does not pass the character test. Failing the character test does not automatically mean cancellation — there is a discretion to be exercised, and that discretion is where legal argument is focused.
The character test — what triggers it
A person fails the character test under s501(6) if they have a substantial criminal record — which includes a sentence of imprisonment (whether or not suspended) of 12 months or more, whether for a single offence or a cumulative total. The test also applies where a person has been convicted of an offence while in immigration detention, has an association with criminal conduct, or has engaged in certain types of harassment or vilification. The 12-month sentence threshold is extremely broad — it captures sentences that were served partly or wholly in the community.
Mandatory vs. discretionary cancellation
Section 501(3A) requires the Minister to cancel a visa — with no discretion — where the person is serving a sentence of imprisonment and has a substantial criminal record. This is the mandatory cancellation provision. Section 501(2) gives a discretion to cancel — the decision-maker may cancel but is not required to. Where the discretion applies, the decision-maker must weigh the protection of the Australian community against the hardship of cancellation — including to the visa holder's family. Mandatory cancellations are subject to a separate revocation process through s501CA.
Direction 99 — the ministerial direction on discretion
Ministerial Direction 99 (and its predecessors) sets out how decision-makers must exercise the discretion under s501. It establishes a hierarchy of considerations — protection of the Australian community (assessed by the seriousness of the offending and risk of reoffending) against hardship considerations (including the best interests of Australian citizen children, the strength of family ties, the visa holder's ties to their country of removal, and the extent of integration into the Australian community). The Direction is binding on AAT members and delegates — and a failure to apply it correctly is a ground for judicial review.
Best interests of Australian citizen children
Where the visa holder is a parent of Australian citizen children, the best interests of those children are a primary consideration — though not a paramount or determinative one. The AAT (and the Minister) must identify what is in the best interests of the children, assess the impact of the cancellation on those interests, and give them appropriate weight against the protection of the community. The strength of the parent-child relationship, the practicalities of the children following the parent to the country of removal, and the other parent's ability to care for the children are all relevant.
Length of time in Australia — a key hardship factor
The length of time a person has spent in Australia is a significant hardship consideration. A person who has spent their entire life in Australia — arriving as a child with their family — faces profound hardship on removal to a country they may barely know. Conversely, a person who came to Australia as an adult and has only lived here for a short period has less claim to the hardship consideration. Cases involving "1.5 generation" migrants — people who arrived in Australia as young children — have attracted significant public attention and litigation.
The 9-day review deadline for persons in detention
Where a visa is cancelled under s501 and the person is in immigration detention, the application for AAT review must be lodged within 9 days. This is the most compressed mandatory deadline in Australian immigration law. In practice, this means the applicant needs legal representation engaged and the review application lodged within the first week of notification. Missing this deadline extinguishes the right to AAT review and leaves only the Federal Court (for legal error) or ministerial intervention as remaining pathways.
How It Works
Urgent action. Every day matters.
Tell us the notice you have received, when it was issued, and whether the person is currently in detention. An immigration lawyer will be in contact urgently.
Submit Your RequestDescribe the notice and the situation
Tell us what notice has been received (NOICC, cancellation notice), the date issued, whether the person is in detention, and their length of time in Australia. Include any criminal history details.
Matched to a section 501 specialist
Your request is matched to an immigration lawyer who specialises in character cancellation matters — including AAT reviews, Federal Court proceedings, and ministerial intervention requests.
Urgent assessment and action
A lawyer assesses the review prospects and, where the deadline is imminent, takes immediate action to preserve review rights — including lodging the AAT application, applying for a bridging visa, or initiating Federal Court proceedings.
Common Questions
Section 501 — frequently asked questions.
I have lived in Australia my whole life — can they still deport me?
Yes — s501 has no length-of-residence exemption. Long-term residents, including people who arrived in Australia as children and have no meaningful connection to their country of citizenship, are subject to cancellation where the character test is failed. However, length of residence and the depth of ties to Australia are significant discretionary factors in the AAT review. Cases involving life-long residents with Australian citizen children and extended family are the most contested — and sometimes successfully challenge the cancellation at the AAT or through ministerial intervention.
The offence I was convicted of was years ago — does it still count?
Yes. There is no spent convictions regime for migration purposes — a conviction for which a sentence of 12 months or more was imposed will satisfy the character test threshold regardless of how long ago the conviction occurred or how the person has changed since. However, the time that has elapsed since the offending, evidence of rehabilitation, and the person's conduct since the conviction are all highly relevant to the discretion — a person who offended decades ago and has been a law-abiding community member since has a much stronger discretionary case than someone with recent or ongoing offending.
I am a New Zealand citizen — does section 501 apply to me?
Yes. New Zealand citizens living in Australia on a Special Category Visa (SCV) are subject to s501 — and New Zealand nationals have been among the most affected cohort of s501 cancellations in recent years. New Zealand citizens who fail the character test and have their SCV cancelled face deportation to New Zealand, even if they came to Australia as children and have no meaningful ties to New Zealand. The same review rights (AAT, Federal Court, ministerial intervention) apply to New Zealand citizens as to other non-citizens.