An AVO or domestic violence order and your visa: disclosure, the character test, sponsorship, and the plea you consent to

MARN 1576536

What an order is, and is not

Each state and territory has its own order: the apprehended violence order in New South Wales, the family violence intervention order in Victoria, the domestic violence order in Queensland, the family violence restraining order in Western Australia, the intervention order in South Australia, and their equivalents. Each is a civil order made by a magistrate, on the balance of probabilities, that the respondent not do certain things: not assault, threaten, stalk or harass the protected person, not approach them or their home or work, sometimes not contact them at all. The order is not a criminal conviction, it is not a finding of guilt, and it does not appear on a national police certificate as a conviction. It does appear on police records, it is made in a court, and a breach of it is a criminal offence. For the migration law, which asks about conduct as well as convictions, an order is a court's finding that there were reasonable grounds to fear the respondent, and that finding is what the Department reads.

Disclosure

Visa application forms ask about charges, convictions and, in the character section, about a range of conduct. Sponsor forms for partner visas ask directly whether the sponsor has been subject to a violence or protection order. Citizenship forms ask about orders. Form 80 asks about charges and convictions and leaves room for anything else relevant. Where a form asks about orders, an order is answered yes, with the date, the court and the circumstances. Where a form asks only about charges and convictions, an order without a charge is not a charge, and the answer to that question is no; but any charge that accompanied the order, an assault charge or a stalking charge, is answered yes whether or not it proceeded. The Department exchanges data with state police and courts, so an order is found; and an order found that a form asked about and did not receive is a false answer under PIC 4020, which refuses the application and bars others for three years, and is the commonest way an order becomes a visa refusal. The Form 80 guide covers the character questions.

Consent without admission

Most orders are made by consent, and most lawyers advise consent, because contesting an order is slow, expensive and uncertain, and consenting without admission concedes nothing about the facts. For the criminal law that is right. For the migration law, the order is made whether consented to or contested, it is disclosed in the same way, and the Department reads the application for the order, with the allegations in it, as part of the record; the respondent's consent without admission is noted and the allegations are weighed with the respondent's own account. What consent avoids is a contested hearing and findings of fact against the respondent; what it does not avoid is the order. A visa holder deciding whether to consent asks what the order will do to the visa, which depends on what else is on the record and what application is coming, and the answer sometimes favours contesting an order that a citizen would consent to without a thought.

A breach

Contravening an order is an offence in every state, carrying imprisonment, and a breach that involves violence is charged with the assault as well. A charge for breach is disclosed, delays any pending application, and is weighed on its outcome; a conviction is a conviction for the character test, counted by its sentence, and a sentence of twelve months or more served in custody brings mandatory cancellation under section 501(3A). Breaches are also the evidence the Department relies on under the general cancellation power, because a person who has breached a court's protective order is a person the Department can say poses a risk. A respondent who complies with the order for its term has a document on the record; a respondent who breaches it has a case. The charged-while-on-a-visa guide covers the charge.

The character test's conduct limb

Section 501 provides that a person does not pass the character test if, having regard to their past and present criminal conduct or their past and present general conduct, they are not of good character, or if there is a risk that they would engage in criminal conduct, harass, molest, intimidate or stalk another person, or represent a danger to the Australian community. An order is general conduct, and an order with the allegations behind it, particularly a pattern of orders or an order plus charges, can satisfy the limb without any conviction. The Department's character unit assesses it, with notice and a response, and a decision to refuse or cancel is made under the Direction in force, weighing the considerations. A single order, complied with, with an explanation and no other history, rarely fails the test; a history of orders, or an order plus a breach, often does. The character guide sets out the limbs and the process.

Cancellation on safety grounds

Separately from the character test, section 116 allows the Department to cancel a visa where the presence of its holder in Australia is, or may be, or would or might be, a risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian community or a segment of it, or to the health or safety of an individual. The power is used against visa holders with a history of family violence, including where no conviction exists, on the strength of orders, police reports and the applications for the orders. It is exercised with notice and a response, and the decision weighs the risk against the holder's circumstances. A temporary visa holder with an order and police attendances is the typical case, and the response is the explanation, the compliance, the evidence of a changed situation, and the consequences of cancellation for family in Australia. The cancellation notice guide covers the response.

Direction 123

From 31 October 2026, Ministerial Direction 123 governs character decisions, and it makes family violence a primary consideration in its own right, so that a decision-maker weighing a refusal, a cancellation or a revocation request must give significant weight to any family violence in the person's history, whether or not it produced a conviction, and so that the previous weight given to a person's ties to Australia is reduced. An order is evidence of family violence for the direction's purposes, and a person with an order on their record who comes before the Department on character after that date is weighed under a direction written with their case in mind. The practical effect is that an order that would have been outweighed by twenty years in Australia under the previous direction now may not be. The character guide sets out the change as it takes effect.

Sponsoring a partner with an order on your record

A person sponsoring a partner for a visa must provide a police certificate and disclose convictions, and the Department must refuse the sponsorship where the sponsor has a conviction for a registrable offence, broadly sexual and violent offences against children, unless compelling circumstances apply, and may refuse where the sponsor's history indicates a risk to the applicant. A violence order is disclosed on the sponsor's form, is not itself a registrable-offence conviction, and is weighed under the discretion with any other history. The applicant is given the sponsor's disclosed history under the family safety provisions, so that the person being sponsored knows. A sponsor with one old order and nothing else is usually approved; a sponsor with an order made by the partner they now seek to sponsor, or a history of orders from previous partners, is examined closely and sometimes refused. The sponsor requirements guide sets out the rules.

The protected person's visa

A person protected by an order holds whatever visa they hold, and the order does nothing to it. Where that visa depends on the relationship with the respondent, a partner visa at the temporary stage or a dependant visa, the family violence provisions allow the permanent partner visa to be granted without the relationship continuing, and a court order made after a hearing, or by consent with the respondent's admission, is one of the forms of evidence the provisions accept; an order made by consent without admission is evidence but may need to be supported by other evidence. A dependant on a sponsored or student visa does not have the provisions and plans a visa in their own right. The family violence guide sets out the provisions, the evidence and the help available now.

Before you consent or contest

1. Tell the criminal lawyer which visa you hold and what application is coming, and ask for the visa position to be considered before the plea or the consent.
2. Obtain the application for the order and read the allegations as the Department will read them.
3. Decide, with both advisers, whether to consent, consent to a reduced order, or contest, on the visa consequences as well as the criminal ones.
4. Comply with the order to the letter for its term, because the breach is the thing that changes everything.
5. Disclose the order wherever a form asks, with the explanation, and never answer no to a question that covers it.
6. If a notice arrives from the Department, treat it as a character matter and answer within the period with evidence.

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General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Sections 116(1)(e) and 501 of the Migration Act 1958, Public Interest Criterion 4020, the partner sponsorship provisions in Division 1.4B of the Migration Regulations 1994, and Ministerial Direction 123 commencing 31 October 2026, as at the date above; the orders themselves are made under state and territory law, and advice on contesting or consenting to one is for a criminal lawyer. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each matter; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.