Biometrics for an Australian visa: who has to give them, the request and its deadline, where and what is collected, and what happens if you do not

MARN 1576536

What biometrics are

The Migration Act allows the Department to require a visa applicant to provide personal identifiers, and the identifiers the Department collects under its biometrics programme are a facial image, taken as a photograph at the centre, and fingerprints, the ten fingers scanned on a flat reader without ink. The identifiers are collected once per application in the usual case, linked to the application, and used to confirm that the person who applied is the person who travels, to match against the Department's own records and against the immigration records of the partner countries with which Australia shares them, and to detect a person who has applied before under another name. The programme began with a small number of countries and has expanded by nationality and by location over time, most recently to large applicant countries, and the Department publishes where it applies.

Who has to give them

Biometrics are required of applicants who hold the passports of the nationalities the Department has designated and who apply from a country in the programme, for the visa subclasses the programme covers, which include visitor, student, work and permanent visas; for some nationalities the requirement applies wherever the applicant is, including in Australia. The Department's published list names the countries and the locations, and the list is the reference, not the experience of other applicants from the same country, because the programme's coverage changes. An applicant who is not of a designated nationality, applying from a country not in the programme, is not asked and gives nothing; an applicant who is asked is asked by a request, and the request is the only reliable signal. A member of the family unit included in an application is asked in the same way as the primary applicant.

The request and its period

After the application is lodged, the Department sends a request to provide biometrics, in ImmiAccount and by email to the authorised recipient, identifying the applicant, the centre options and the period within which the applicant must attend, which is commonly two weeks and can be shorter or longer depending on the subclass and the location. The period runs from the date of the request, not from the date the applicant reads it, and the applicant books an appointment inside it; the Department does not decide the application until the biometrics are received, and does not wait indefinitely. A request that arrives while the applicant is away from the country of lodgement, or that cannot be met because the nearest centre is far, is answered by a message to the Department before the period ends asking for more time, with the reason, and more time is commonly given once.

The collection centres

Biometrics are given at an Australian Visa Application Centre or an Australian Biometrics Collection Centre, operated for the Department by its contracted service provider in each country, by appointment booked on the provider's website, with the passport, the request letter with its reference, and the service fee the centre charges for the collection, which is separate from the visa application charge. The collection takes a few minutes: the photograph against a plain background, without glasses or head covering except for religious reasons, and the fingerprints scanned, with a retake where the scan is poor. The centre transmits the identifiers to the Department, and the applicant keeps the receipt. A person who cannot reach any centre in the country, because none exists or travel is impossible, tells the Department, which may arrange an alternative or waive the requirement for that applicant.

What is collected and checked

The facial image and fingerprints are matched against the Department's own records of identifiers given on earlier applications and at the border, and against the immigration and law enforcement records of the countries with which Australia shares biometric data under its agreements, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand among them; a match to an earlier application under a different name, to a refusal or removal in a partner country, or to a criminal record held abroad is a finding that goes to identity, to PIC 4020, and to character. For the ordinary applicant the check confirms what the application says and the application proceeds. The identifiers are retained by the Department under its retention rules and used for later applications and at the border, where the facial image is matched to the traveller.

Children and exemptions

A child included in an application that requires biometrics attends with a parent or guardian, who consents to the collection; a facial image is taken from every age, and fingerprints from the age the Department sets, with infants and very young children giving the photograph alone. A person who cannot provide fingerprints, because of an amputation, an injury, a skin condition or a disability that defeats the scanner, provides what can be taken and the centre records the reason, and the Department does not refuse for the identifiers that could not physically be given. A person who objects on religious or cultural grounds is accommodated for the photograph where the objection concerns head covering and is not exempted from the collection itself.

Onshore applications

Most applications lodged in Australia do not require biometrics, because the applicant has already been identified at the border; applicants of some designated nationalities are required to give them onshore for some subclasses, and the Department's request tells them where, which may be the Department's own office or a provider's office in a capital city. An onshore applicant who receives no request gives nothing. Biometrics are also collected at the border on arrival for some travellers and at the Department's offices for protection visa applicants, under separate provisions.

Reuse across applications

Each application within the programme ordinarily carries its own request, and the applicant attends again for each; the Department can rely on identifiers held for a recent application and does so for some subclasses, in which case no request issues. An applicant who gave biometrics for a visitor visa and now applies for a student visa should expect a request, and an applicant who gave them a month ago for a visa that was granted may not receive one; the request decides, and the applicant does not attend a centre without one.

More time, and travel

An applicant who cannot meet the period asks for more time through ImmiAccount before it ends, stating the reason, travel, distance, illness, the centre's own appointment availability, and the Department commonly extends the period once; a second extension is rarer and needs a stronger reason. An applicant who is outside the country of lodgement when the request arrives can attend a centre in the country they are in, where one exists, and tells the Department which one. An applicant for an onshore visa who travels on a bridging visa B while the request is open attends abroad or returns in time; the request's period does not pause for travel.

Not complying

The regulations make the provision of personal identifiers, when requested, a requirement for the grant of the visa, and an applicant who does not attend within the period and does not obtain more time has an application the Department decides on what it has, which is a refusal for failing to comply with the request; the refusal letter says so, the refusal is on the applicant's record and is disclosed on every later form, and for an onshore applicant it brings section 48 and the end of the bridging visa with it. There is no review of a refusal for non-compliance that restores the application, and the remedy is a fresh application with the charge paid again and the biometrics given when asked. The refusal guide covers what follows, and the request guide the general position on the Department's requests and their periods.

Privacy

The identifiers are collected under the Migration Act's provisions on personal identifiers, which set out what may be collected, how, for what purposes it may be used and disclosed, and how it is stored and destroyed, with the Privacy Act applying alongside; the Department's privacy notice at collection sets out the sharing with partner countries and with law enforcement, and an applicant who wants to know what is held can request it under the Freedom of Information Act. The identifiers are not published, are not shared with employers or sponsors, and are not available to the applicant's own country except under the Department's agreements.

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General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Sections 5A, 40 and 257A of the Migration Act 1958 and Part 4A on personal identifiers, the biometrics provisions of the Migration Regulations 1994, and the Department’s published lists of the countries, nationalities and subclasses within its biometrics programme, as at the date above; the programme’s coverage, the request periods and the collection arrangements change and the Department’s current published position and the request issued to the applicant govern. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.