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About the Department

Refugee or Humanitarian Program Visa Processing Times

The table below details the processing time service standards for visas to resettle in Australia as a Refugee or under the Special Humanitarian Program.
Note: We aim to process applications within these service standards, however, actual processing times may vary depending on a range of factors.
See: Processing Time Service Standards

Application Type Processing Time
Offshore Humanitarian You can expect us to finalise 75 per cent of humanitarian visa applications within 12 months.
Note: Currently, high numbers of applications and a limited number of Special Humanitarian Program places mean that it may take several years for 'split family' applications to be decided.
Onshore Protection

You can expect us to:

  • finalise 100 per cent of onshore protection visa applications from applicants not in detention within 90 days of lodgement (excluding periods where factors outside our control delay finalisation)
  • finalise 60 per cent of onshore protection visa applications from applicants in detention within 42 days of lodgement and 100 per cent within 90 days (excluding periods where factors outside our control delay finalisation)
Protection Obligations Evaluation for Irregular Maritime Arrivals processing We aim to finalise 75 per cent of primary determinations in 7 weeks from the date of the Protection Obligations Evaluation interview to the date the assessment record is signed. (excluding periods where factors outside our control delay finalisation)