Your health check cleared in May. Your police certificate arrived in June. Then the file stopped. You wrote to the Department in August and the reply said your application had been referred for character assessment. That sentence means the Visa Applicant Character Consideration Unit now holds your file, and the case officer who was processing your visa has paused until the unit reports back. Consequently, the decision in front of you is simple. You can wait for a letter, or you can build the answer to it now.
Short answer: A VACCU referral is an assessment against the character test in section 501 of the Migration Act and Ministerial Direction 110, not a refusal. The Department reported fewer than 4,000 files with the unit and 160 to 260 new referrals a month during 2025, with a typical file taking months rather than weeks. Send the court record, your own account and your evidence of rehabilitation before the unit asks, because the file is decided on what is in it when the assessment is written.
What sent your file there
This is the most common route and, in our experience, the best position to be in. You answered the character questions truthfully, so there is no honesty problem to fix. The unit will want the certified court outcome for every matter, not your description of it. Get it from the court registry now. If the sentence was under 12 months and the offence was not a sexually based offence involving a child, you may still pass the character test. The assessment then turns on your general conduct and the considerations in Direction 110.
The certificate showed something you did not declare. Now there are two problems: the offence and the answer. Lodge a Form 1023 correcting the application at once and explain the omission in a statutory declaration. A delegate can refuse on the false answer alone under public interest criterion 4020, quite apart from character, and that refusal carries a three year bar. The tick box article covers the correction in detail.
A visa refused or cancelled on character grounds in another country, a deportation, or an overstay recorded abroad all trigger a look at your general conduct under section 501(6)(c). Get the foreign decision in writing and translated. The unit reads the reasons, not the headline.
Membership of or association with a group or person involved in criminal conduct, an Interpol notice, or an adverse security assessment sit at the serious end. Do not respond to these alone. The material the Department holds may not be disclosed to you in full, and the response has to be built around what you can prove rather than what you can deny.
The test you are being measured against
Section 501(6) lists the ways a person fails the character test. The bright line is a substantial criminal record: a sentence of imprisonment of 12 months or more, or two or more sentences that add up to 12 months, counted as imposed, so a suspended sentence counts. Below that line the test asks about your past and present criminal and general conduct, about association with criminal groups, and about the risk that you would offend, harass or vilify people, or be a danger to the Australian community. A sexually based offence involving a child fails the test regardless of sentence. Therefore the first job is to work out which limb applies. The answer decides whether you are arguing that you pass the test or asking the delegate to exercise a discretion in your favour.
What the unit weighs
Direction 110 has bound every delegate since 21 June 2024. The primary considerations are the protection of the Australian community, whether the conduct involved family violence, the strength, nature and duration of your ties to Australia, the best interests of minor children in Australia, and the expectations of the Australian community. The other considerations are the legal consequences of the decision, the extent of impediments you would face if removed, the impact on victims, and the impact on Australian business interests. The Department has also said that around 30 per cent of the unit’s caseload involves family violence offending and that those files are prioritised. If your matter is in that category, the community protection consideration will dominate and your response has to meet it head on.
Why has nobody written to me?
Because the unit does not have to. It can assess the file on the police certificate and your application alone. A natural justice letter, sometimes called a notice of intention to consider refusal, arrives only when the Department is minded to refuse and must give you a chance to respond. The letter sets a deadline, commonly 28 days. Waiting for it means writing the most important document in your application under a clock.
The order of work
- Week 1Certified court records for every matter, from every court, including the sentencing remarks if they were published. Police certificates for every country you have lived in for 12 months or more in the last 10 years, current within 12 months.
- Week 2Your statutory declaration: what happened, what you did about it, and what has changed. Facts, dates, no minimising. The unit compares it to the court record line by line.
- Week 3Rehabilitation evidence: completed programs, counselling letters, parole or probation reports, clean years since, employment records, community involvement.
- Week 4The ties: partner and children in Australia with birth certificates and school letters, the length of your residence, the business that employs you, and what removal would do to each of them.
- LodgeA written submission that takes each Direction 110 consideration in order and points to the evidence. File it through ImmiAccount and confirm receipt. Then, if a natural justice letter comes, you are updating rather than starting.
What happens at the end
The unit records an assessment and the delegate decides. A grant needs every other criterion met as well, so keep the rest of the file current while you wait. A refusal under section 501 to a person in Australia carries two consequences. First, section 501E stops you applying for most other visas while you remain here. Second, review at the Administrative Review Tribunal must be applied for within 9 days of being notified, with a fee of $3,727. That is the shortest deadline in the migration system, so the plan for a refusal should exist before the decision does. Our refusals and review page explains the tribunal process, and the partner visa page covers the character criterion where the applicant is a partner.
Send it before they ask
If three or more boxes are open and your file has been silent for months, contact us. The response is better built in a month than in 28 days.
Caseload and referral figures are as reported by the Department of Home Affairs to the migration profession in 2025. The tribunal fee is verified against art.gov.au as at 1 July 2026. Direction 110 commenced 21 June 2024.
Frequently asked questions
Is VACCU the same as visa cancellation?
No. The unit assesses visa applications. Cancellation of a visa you already hold on character grounds is handled elsewhere in the Department and under different sections, although Direction 110 applies to both.
Can I ask VACCU how long it will take?
You can ask the Department, but no timeframe is promised. The reported figures show some files finalised within months and others taking years, depending on the seriousness of the conduct and what still has to be collected.
Does a suspended sentence count towards the 12 months?
Yes. The test counts the sentence imposed, not the time served, so a wholly suspended sentence of 12 months is a substantial criminal record.
Will my partner or employer be told about the referral?
Not by the Department. Correspondence goes to you or your authorised representative. Whether to tell your sponsor is your decision, but their evidence about your ties and conduct is usually the strongest material you have.
What if I am refused while I am in Australia?
Get advice the same day. A tribunal application for a character refusal must be lodged within 9 days of notification, and section 501E limits the visas you can apply for while you stay.
General information as at 17 September 2026. Not legal advice. Character assessments depend on the full record and your own circumstances, so obtain advice before responding to the Department.