An offshore humanitarian visa is granted to a person facing discrimination or persecution in his/her home country. To apply for this visa, the applicant must be:

• 18 years or above.

• Outside your home country and Australia

• A victim of discrimination or persecution in their home country

• Have a sponsor

• Meet health and character requirements

• Sign the Australian values statement

• Ensure that they don’t owe debt to the Australian government

There is no set timeline for processing of this visa. Due to high demand and limited slots available, it can take many months or even years for the visa to be processed. Thus, it is important that your application has all the relevant documents for this visa category.

There are several priority groups for the offshore humanitarian visa that get priority while processing the applications. These are:

• Applicants with an immediate family member or relative as proposer

• Applicants with proposer living in a regional area of Australia

• Applicants whose proposer does not hold a Protection or Resolution of Status visa

• Applicants whose proposer is an extended family member, who does not hold a Protection or Resolution of Status visa

• An applicant whose proposer is a friend or distant relative, who does not hold a Protection or Resolution of Status visa

• An applicant whose proposer holds a Protection or Resolution of Status visa