What the Visitor Visa Covers
The Visitor visa (subclass 600) allows people to travel to Australia for tourism, visiting family, or approved business activities. It operates in several streams:
| Stream | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Tourist stream | Tourism, recreation, visiting family and friends |
| Business visitor stream | Short-term business activities — no paid work in Australia |
| Sponsored Family stream | Family-sponsored visitors — higher bond requirement, longer stays possible |
| Medical Treatment stream | Receiving medical or dental care in Australia |
The Genuine Temporary Entrant Requirement
The Department will only grant a visitor visa if it is satisfied you intend to stay temporarily and leave before your visa expires. This isn't a box-ticking exercise — it's a genuine assessment of your circumstances.
The assessment considers:
- Your personal and economic ties to your home country — employment, property, family, finances
- Your immigration history — any previous overstays, refusals, or breaches
- Your family situation — having close family permanently in Australia can work against temporary intent
- The purpose and duration of your visit
- Your financial capacity to fund the trip without working illegally
This is where most refusals happen. An applicant who lives overseas but has an Australian citizen spouse, no job overseas, and a previous overstay has a difficult case to make — not impossible, but it requires a carefully prepared application that addresses each of those concerns directly.
What Strong Evidence Looks Like
Employment Evidence
Letter from your employer confirming your leave approval and expected return date. Self-employed? Tax records and evidence of your ongoing business.
Home Country Ties
Property ownership, rental lease, bank accounts, dependent family members overseas — anything that gives you a compelling reason to return.
Financial Evidence
Bank statements demonstrating sufficient funds to cover the trip without needing to work. Three to six months of statements is typical.
Purpose of Visit
Invitation letters from family, event bookings, itinerary. The more specific and credible the purpose, the better.
If Your Visitor Visa Was Refused
A visitor visa refusal is not permanent. You can reapply — but the application needs to directly address the reasons stated in the refusal notice.
We see many clients who received a refusal, lodged the same application again, and got refused again. The Department assesses reapplications against the same criteria. If you haven't addressed what they identified as the problem, the outcome won't change.
We review refusal notices, identify the exact criterion that wasn't met, and build the reapplication around addressing that specifically.
Extending a Visitor Visa
There is no formal extension process for visitor visas. What you can do is lodge a new subclass 600 application from within Australia before your current visa expires. Doing so gives you a Bridging Visa A, which lets you remain lawfully while the new application is assessed.
If your visitor visa has condition 8503 (no further stay), you cannot lodge another visa application onshore without first having that condition waived. Read about condition 8503 waivers →