Australia has strengthened its visa character test, making it easier to deport migrants or refuse entry to foreigners judged likely to pose a risk to community safety, social cohesion, respect for the law or human rights.
The revised powers, which came into force on October 31 through a ministerial direction, no longer require an offence to have been proved or a criminal conviction to have been recorded.
Decision-makers have also been instructed to consider whether a person “might” cause harm, replacing the previous wording that asked whether they “would” do so.
Australia’s visa character test widened
The length of time a migrant has spent in Australia, their children, community contribution and social ties are now secondary considerations when officials assess whether a visa should be cancelled.
Engagement with hate groups, hate crimes, anti-Semitism, support for terrorism and racist attitudes have been added to the character test. The changes are intended to align the rules with laws passed after December’s Bondi massacre.
Family violence will also be treated more seriously, including image-based and digital abuse. The direction states: “The inherent nature of certain conduct such as domestic or family violence … is so serious that even strong countervailing considerations may be insufficient to justify not cancelling.”
The changes follow the 2023 High Court ruling known as NZYQ, which found that immigrants could not be detained when there was no reasonable prospect of sending them to another country.
More than 200 people were released from immigration detention as a result, many of them with criminal records. Amid concerns about community safety, the Australian government reached an agreement in February 2025 to send the so-called NZYQ cohort to the Pacific nation of Naoero.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke said the visa rules had needed updating after that arrangement was reached.
“Ministerial directions always need to be updated,” he said in a statement. “The previous direction was written prior to when the new arrangement with Naoero had been achieved and there were new interpretations which were not consistent with my view.”
The changes come as the Labor government faces pressure to reduce migration amid worsening public attitudes towards immigration and competition from the anti-immigration One Nation party.
The government has tightened rules on secondary visas for foreign students, introduced a ballot for backpackers and brought in detention for visa overstayers. Its stated aim is to reduce migration-driven population growth from almost 300,000 a year to a long-term target of 225,000.
The Coalition has proposed reducing migration to 100,000 a year for four years if elected, before settling at 160,000, while One Nation wants migration to turn temporarily negative before being capped at 130,000 a year.
The Coalition made an Australian values test a condition of visa approval part of its policy in April, alongside proposals to examine migrants’ social media activity and end welfare payments to non-citizens.
