ETA or eVisitor refused: why the automated visas say no, the conviction that fails them, and the visitor visa (600) as the route through

MARN 1576536

How the ETA and eVisitor decide

The Electronic Travel Authority, subclass 601, for the passports of the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Brunei and a few others, and the eVisitor, subclass 651, for the passports of the European Union and other European countries, are granted by an automated assessment of the application against the eligibility rules and the Department's systems: the passport is checked, the identity is matched against the alerts and the movement records, and the answers to the declarations about health, character and immigration history are read as given. Where everything is clear the visa issues in minutes; where anything is not, the application is refused, or in some cases referred for a manual check that takes days, and the refusal letter states that the applicant is not eligible and should consider another visa. There is no reasons statement beyond that, no review at the Tribunal, and no officer to whom the applicant can write. The ETA guide covers who is eligible.

The histories that refuse them

• Any criminal conviction, answered honestly on the character question; the ETA's rules exclude a person with a conviction that resulted in a sentence or sentences totalling twelve months or more, and the application form's question is wider, so that a person who answers yes to any conviction is refused or referred, and the practical effect is that a conviction of any kind ends the automated route.
• Pending charges, declared, which the assessment cannot resolve.
• An earlier Australian visa refusal or cancellation, which the systems hold and the form asks about.
• An overstay or a removal from Australia, held in the movement records, with an exclusion period that may still be running.
• A refusal or deportation from another country, declared on the form.
• A passport or identity flagged in the Department's alert lists, including for a lost or stolen passport reported and later found.
• Details that did not match, a name, a date of birth, a passport number entered wrongly, which refuses rather than queries.
• A declared health condition of the kinds the form asks about, including tuberculosis.

Why the app says no again

The ETA app and the eVisitor form run the same assessment each time, against the same answers and the same records, and a second application with the same history is refused the same way; a second application with a different answer to the conviction question is a false declaration that the Department's records will contradict, and it becomes a PIC 4020 finding and a character matter that follows the applicant onto every later visa. An applicant whose first refusal was for a mismatched detail, the wrong passport number or a transposed date, is the one case where a corrected reapplication succeeds, and the refusal letter does not say which case the applicant is in. The honest answer to the second attempt is the 600.

The visitor visa (600) as the route

The visitor visa, subclass 600, is the visa for every nationality, decided by an officer on the application, the declarations and the evidence; it costs more than the ETA and the eVisitor, which are free or nearly so, it takes longer, and it is granted for a stay and a validity the officer sets, often twelve months with three-month stays and sometimes longer for a traveller with a clean 600 history. The 600 asks the same character and history questions, and the difference is that an officer reads the answer, the attached record and the explanation, and applies the character test and the genuine visitor criteria as the law frames them rather than as a filter. A traveller refused the ETA for an old minor conviction is, on a 600, an ordinary visitor with a disclosed conviction, and is granted in the ordinary case. The visitor visa guide covers the criteria.

A conviction on a 600

The character test fails a person with a substantial criminal record, a sentence of twelve months or more, or a conviction for offences of certain kinds, and gives the Department a discretion to refuse where the conduct suggests a risk; a single conviction with a fine, a short suspended sentence, a conviction decades old, or a traffic offence that went to court does not fail the test and is, for a visitor, weighed under the Department's discretion with the seriousness, the time since, the conduct since, and the purpose of the visit. The applicant discloses the conviction on the form, attaches the court record or a police certificate showing it, and writes a short statement of what happened, when, what the penalty was, and what has happened since; an undisclosed conviction found in the checks is the refusal, and the disclosed one is not. A conviction with a sentence of twelve months or more, including suspended sentences counted on their full term, fails the test and the 600 is then a matter of the Department's discretion to grant notwithstanding, which for a visitor is exercised rarely and on a strong case. The visitor criminal record guide sets out the test in detail, and the drink driving guide the commonest conviction behind an ETA refusal.

An earlier refusal, cancellation or overstay on a 600

An earlier Australian refusal is disclosed with the subclass, the date and the reason, and the application explains what has changed; an earlier cancellation is disclosed with the ground, and the consultation checks whether an exclusion period is running, since a cancellation for a breach of conditions or for an overstay can carry three years during which a temporary visa is granted only where compelling or compassionate circumstances are shown, and a character cancellation carries a permanent bar. An overstay is disclosed with the dates and the reason, and the officer examines whether the applicant will comply this time, on the ties to the home country, the funds, the purpose and the length of the proposed stay; a short overstay long ago with a good explanation is granted, and a recent lengthy overstay is usually not. A refusal or deportation from another country is disclosed and examined for its reason. The declaring guide covers how the questions are answered.

What to attach

1. The ETA or eVisitor refusal letter, so the officer sees the history whole.
2. For a conviction: the court record or certificate of conviction, or a police certificate from the country, and a statement of the circumstances, the penalty and the time since.
3. For an earlier Australian decision: the decision letter and a statement of what has changed.
4. The purpose of the visit: an itinerary, an invitation from the family or the business, a conference registration, the return ticket or the intention to buy one on grant.
5. The funds: bank statements for the stay, or the host's undertaking.
6. The ties home: employment, property, family, study, the things that bring the applicant back.
7. Form 80 if requested, and a police certificate from each country of residence if requested; attaching the police certificate unasked shortens the process for a character disclosure.

The time it takes and the flight

A 600 with a character or history disclosure is allocated to an officer and is not decided in days; the Department's published times for the visitor visa run to weeks for most applications and to months for those that need a character assessment, a request for a police certificate or a referral, and a traveller who has a flight in a fortnight and an ETA refusal today usually does not make it. The honest sequence is to lodge the 600 the day the ETA is refused, complete, with the police certificate attached if a conviction is the reason, and to book travel when the grant arrives; a traveller who has already booked tells the airline, who will not board a passenger without a visa, and the Department does not expedite for a booked flight. A 600 granted after a character disclosure is commonly granted with a long validity, which means the next trip needs no new application. The processing times report carries the current figures.

Transit

A traveller passing through Australia to another country, who holds a passport on the transit-without-visa list and stays airside for less than eight hours, needs no visa; a traveller who is not on that list, who must clear immigration, or who stays longer applies for the transit visa, subclass 771, which an officer decides on the same character questions and which a conviction does not automatically refuse. A traveller refused an ETA who is only transiting applies for the 771, not the 600, and attaches the same disclosure.

If the 600 is refused too

A visitor visa refused to an applicant outside Australia has no Tribunal review unless the application was in the sponsored family stream, where the Australian sponsor has review rights; an applicant refused offshore reapplies with the evidence the refusal letter shows was missing, or asks an Australian relative to sponsor a fresh application, with the sponsor's undertaking and in some cases a security bond, which brings review rights and the officer's knowledge that the application can be reviewed. A refusal on character grounds under the discretion is examined for whether the finding is answerable, and a refusal on the genuine visitor criterion for whether the ties and the purpose can be shown better. The visitor refusal guide covers the review and the reapplication.

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General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. The subclass 601, 651, 600 and 771 criteria in Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994, section 501 of the Migration Act 1958 (the character test), public interest criteria 4013, 4014 and 4020, and the Department’s published eligibility rules for the ETA and eVisitor and its processing times, as at the date above; the eligible passport lists and the transit-without-visa list change and the Department’s current lists 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.