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Many visa applications are lodged directly. A registered migration agent or immigration lawyer helps with complex or refused matters.

What is a Section 48 bar?

It limits the visas you can apply for while unlawfully in Australia after a refusal or cancellation. A professional can map your options.

Can I appeal a refused visa?

Often yes — the Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviews many decisions, but strict time limits apply.

Being Onshore When Your Subclass 117 Is Decided in 2026: What Happens to the Application

What happens to an Orphan Relative (subclass 117) application if the child is in Australia when the decision is made, and where to get help.

If a subclass 117 Orphan Relative application is decided while the child is inside Australia, the visa cannot be granted. The Department of Home Affairs states on its Orphan Relative visa (Subclass 117) official page, as at August 2026, that the child must be outside Australia both when the application is made and when the department makes its decision, and it repeats under the visa outcome section that the child must be outside Australia when the decision is made in order for the visa to be granted. The rest of this article explains what that means for an application already in the system and where a family can look for lawful immigration assistance; it is general information about how the published rules operate, not advice on any particular case, so the official page and a qualified professional remain the reference points for your own situation.

What does "outside Australia when we decide" actually require?

The location rule is stated twice, at two different points in time: the child must be outside Australia when the application is made, and outside Australia again when the department decides it. It is a condition about where the child physically is, not about where the sponsoring relative lives or where the paperwork is posted from.

The second limb is the one that catches families out. It is not enough to have lodged from overseas and then wait from abroad for a while; what matters is the child's location on the day the decision is recorded. The official page expresses this as a precondition of grant rather than as a preference or a processing convenience.

Point in time	What the official page requires	Why it matters
When the application is made	The child must be outside Australia	This visa is applied for on paper (Form 47CH and Form 40CH) sent to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth; applications cannot be submitted in person or at another office
When the decision is made	The child must be outside Australia, in order for the visa to be granted	If the child is in Australia on that day, the grant cannot be made

So what happens to the application if the child is onshore?

The published outcome steps are written for a child who is outside Australia. Where that is not the case, the department's own statement is that the visa cannot be granted — the page does not describe any mechanism for pausing a pending 117 application until the child departs, or for granting it subject to the child leaving later.

What the page does set out is the refusal pathway. If the visa is refused, the department confirms it will advise in writing of the reasons for refusal and of whether there is a right to a review of that decision, and it states plainly that the application fee will not be refunded. That refusal notice is therefore the document that determines what options exist afterwards, and it is the document any review or further application has to be built around.

Two consequences follow from this and are worth stating plainly: a family can spend the full processing period waiting for a decision that cannot end in a grant while the child remains in Australia, and there is no provision on the page for recovering the application charge once that happens.

How does an applicant end up onshore while a 117 is pending?

The most common route is simply travel: the child enters Australia on some other visa after the 117 has been lodged, and is still here when the decision falls. The official page addresses this directly in its post-lodgement section — families are told not to arrange for the child to travel to Australia until the department advises in writing that the visa has been granted.

Other changes in the child's situation can produce the same problem more slowly. A pending application can run for a long period; the page directs applicants to the Department's global visa processing times tool for an indication, while warning that the tool shows recently decided applications only and is not specific to any individual case. It also notes that processing can take longer where the form is incomplete, documents are missing, information takes time to verify, or the visa application charge is not paid in full at lodgement.

Because the offshore condition is tested at decision time, the risk is not only at the start. A child who was outside Australia for years can still be inside Australia on the wrong day.

Does being onshore change the rest of the 117 criteria?

No. Location is one requirement sitting alongside the others, and it does not switch them off. The child still needs to be under 18, single, and without a parent able to care for them; there still needs to be a relative who is a settled Australian citizen, eligible New Zealand citizen or Australian permanent resident; and the evidentiary work is unchanged — identity documents, four recent passport-sized photographs, travel documents, proof of the relationship to the Australian relative, and evidence about the parents, including a death certificate or medical report, or, where parents cannot be located, evidence of how long they have been missing and what efforts were made to find them.

Health and character requirements continue to apply as well, including police certificates for children over 16 from any country where they have spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 16, and Form 80 for children over 16.

It is also worth understanding what a grant would have delivered, because it shows why the location rule is structured this way. A granted 117 is a permanent visa: the child stays indefinitely, works and studies, enrols in Medicare, sponsors relatives, may access the Adult Migrant English Program if eligible, and may later apply for citizenship if eligible. The grant letter sets a first entry date, generally 12 months from the date of grant, and travel to and from Australia is then allowed for five years from the grant date, after which a Resident Return visa or citizenship becomes the way back in. Every one of those steps assumes the child was outside Australia receiving a grant and then entering on it.

What can a family actually do about it?

The practical steps available are limited but real, and none of them involve asking the department to ignore the requirement.

Keep the department informed. Changes to the child's phone number, address or passport, changes in relationship status, the birth of a child, or a decision to withdraw the application all need to be notified. Incorrect answers already given are corrected on Form 1023.
Keep records. The department advises retaining a copy of the decision, and a granted visa comes with a grant notification letter carrying the visa grant number, since the visa is digitally linked to the passport rather than labelled in it.
Do not plan travel on the strength of a pending application. The instruction is to wait for written advice of grant.
Get help from someone who is permitted to give it. Only a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner, or an exempt person can lawfully provide immigration assistance, nominated on Form 956, while Form 956A covers who receives correspondence. This is the direction to take when a refusal notice arrives: the notice states whether review rights exist, and working out what those rights mean, and how they interact with any other visa the child holds or might apply for, is exactly the kind of question that turns on the individual file.

One caution about expectations: the department states it cannot provide progress updates while an application is within normal processing times, and it will make contact if it needs further information. Waiting for a case officer to raise the location issue before acting on it is not a strategy the official material supports.

If the child is already in Australia and needs to remain, that is a separate question from the fate of the 117. The visa the child currently holds, and the terms on which they can stay lawfully, depend on that visa rather than on the pending orphan relative application; the 117 page mentions a Bridging Visa only in passing as one of the things that can be applied for through ImmiAccount and does not set out any bridging arrangement for a child who is onshore with a pending 117.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a subclass 117 visa be granted while the child is in Australia?

No. The Department of Home Affairs states that the child must be outside Australia when the decision is made in order for the visa to be granted. If the child is onshore on the day of decision, the outcome cannot be a grant.

Does it matter if the child is only in Australia for a short visit?

The published rule is about location at the moment of decision, not about the length of the stay. The official page also tells families not to arrange travel to Australia until written advice of grant is received, so even a brief visit carries the same risk.

Will the department delay the decision until the child leaves Australia?

The official page does not describe any deferral or holding process. It states the offshore requirement as a condition of grant and separately notes that the department cannot provide updates on progress within normal processing times.

If the 117 is refused, is the application fee refunded?

No. The Department of Home Affairs states that it will not refund the application fee if the application is refused. The refusal notice will also state the reasons for refusal and whether there is a right to a review of the decision.

Does the location rule apply to the sponsoring relative as well?

The requirement as published is expressed for the child: the child must be outside Australia when the application is made and when it is decided. The page sets out the sponsor side separately, requiring a relative who is a settled Australian citizen, eligible New Zealand citizen or Australian permanent resident.

How long does the child have to enter Australia after a grant?

The grant letter specifies the date by which the child must have entered Australia, and the official page notes this first entry date is generally set at 12 months from the date of visa grant. Travel to and from Australia is then available for five years from the grant date.

Who can lawfully give immigration assistance on a 117 matter?

A registered migration agent, a legal practitioner, or an exempt person. Assistance is appointed using Form 956, and Form 956A is used to appoint someone to receive correspondence; the department's guidance is to read its information on who can help before paying anyone.