A refused nomination is not the end of the matter, but it does start a clock, and the clock is short. If a Training visa (subclass 407) application is already on hand when the nomination is refused, the decisions made in the days that follow will shape whether the applicant keeps their options or loses most of them.
This page sets out what actually happens, in what order, and what the realistic choices are. For the wider picture on why 407 refusals have risen so sharply this year, and what sponsors should be doing differently, start with our analysis of 407 refusals in 2026.
First, check what was actually refused
Before anything else, confirm which decision you are looking at. The three stages fail differently and the consequences are not the same.
If the nomination was refused, you will have a decision record setting out the delegate’s reasoning, and the decision letter will tell you whether it is reviewable and who is entitled to apply.
If the sponsorship failed at stage one, the nomination is usually not refused at all. It is treated as otherwise finalised, which means there is no refusal decision, no review right attached to it, and no notification email you can rely on. Nothing arrives to tell you. The only way to find out is to look in ImmiAccount, so look.
Read the decision record properly, not just the covering letter. Delegates frequently rely on more than one ground, and a resubmission built to answer only the headline reason will meet the same fate as the first.
How long you have, and why you should not rely on it
Where a visa application is already on hand, we understand the Department’s general practice is to allow around 14 days after refusing the nomination before deciding the visa, so that applicants have a chance to consider their position.
Do not plan around it. That is administrative practice, not a period fixed by the Act or the Regulations. Nobody is obliged to wait, and in any given case they may not.
There is time to decide and act. There is not time to build a fresh nomination from scratch, chase an employer who is on leave, and sleep on it. Work from the day the refusal lands.
What happens to the visa application
Two paths, and which one you are on depends on the genuine temporary entrant assessment.
If the applicant otherwise satisfies the genuine temporary entrant requirement, expect a section 57 natural justice letter. It invites comment on the fact that there is no longer an approved nomination, with 28 days to respond. That is a real opportunity, but only if you have something to put in the response.
If the applicant is also found not to meet the genuine temporary entrant requirement, the visa can be refused on that ground with no section 57 letter at all. Nothing arrives inviting comment. The first thing you receive is the refusal.
This is why the genuine temporary entrant position matters so much once a nomination has gone. It determines whether you get a second conversation or simply a decision.
Your options, and what each one costs
There are four realistic moves. None is better than the others in the abstract. Circumstances decide: where the applicant is, whether a review right exists, whether the refusal grounds can honestly be answered, how much visa time is left, and whether the employer is willing.
Option 1: Review at the Administrative Review Tribunal
A decision to refuse to approve a nomination is reviewable by the Administrative Review Tribunal. The standard period is 28 days after you are notified of the decision.
The trap is that there are two decisions here, not one. The nomination refusal and any later refusal of the visa are separate reviewable decisions, brought by different people: the sponsor reviews the nomination, the visa applicant reviews the visa. Seeking review of the nomination alone does nothing to protect the visa. If the visa is refused while the nomination review is running, that refusal needs its own review application or it stands.
That costs. The fee for a reviewable migration decision is $3,727 as at 1 July 2026, so two reviews approach $7,500 to defend one placement. A 50 per cent reduction is available on hardship grounds.
Two things worth knowing before you lodge. The Tribunal can order that only one fee is payable where it decides the applications can be dealt with together, but you have to ask for that when you lodge, not later, and for migration decisions under Part 5 that ruling is final. And the fees behave differently at the other end: if a visa review ends with the applicant granted a visa of the same class, that review fee can be refunded, but no refund is ever payable on the associated nomination or sponsorship review. The nomination review money is spent either way.
Timing matters more than any of it. The review clock runs from the nomination decision and ignores the visa side. Lodging for review pauses nothing. A review filed on day 27 will not help an applicant refused on day 12. Work to the date in your decision letter, not to a general rule.
Option 2: Lodge a fresh nomination and attach it to the visa already lodged
Most people do not realise this one exists. A new nomination can be lodged and linked to a 407 visa application already on foot. The Skills in Demand (subclass 482) programme does not work this way, so anyone carrying 482 assumptions across writes it off without looking.
Done in time, it saves the visa application and the bridging visa with it.
Two cautions. The fresh nomination has to actually fix the problem, and in the current climate that usually means rebuilding the training plan around the individual nominee rather than adjusting the previous one. And a second refusal often produces a second section 57 letter with a fresh 28 day clock, though the Department may instead refuse the nomination and the visa together on the second round rather than running the process again.
Option 3: Lodge a different visa
Sometimes the refusal is telling you something true. If the delegate has found that the nominee is too experienced for the training to be genuine, and the nominee is in fact already doing the job to the standard the business needs, then the difficulty is not the drafting. It is that the arrangement was never really training, and rebuilding the same nomination a third time is an investment in the wrong outcome.
Where the underlying need is an ongoing skilled worker, that is the Skills in Demand (subclass 482) programme, or a labour agreement where the standard requirements do not fit the occupation.
Taking this route onshore usually means withdrawing the 407 application before it is refused, rather than letting the refusal land. A withdrawal is not a refusal, and the difference decides whether the applicant can lodge onshore at all.
Time is the constraint, and it is tighter than it looks. A Skills in Demand nomination generally requires labour market testing, and the advertising has to run before the nomination can be lodged. Start that early, not once the bridging visa is counting down. A willing but slow employer is the most common reason this route fails.
Option 4: Depart Australia
The option nobody wants and some people need. If there is no review right and no other visa the applicant qualifies for, leaving keeps the future open.
It matters how you leave. Departing after a withdrawal, rather than after an onshore refusal, avoids the section 48 bar and keeps an offshore application clean. Leaving is not the failure. Being barred onshore with no visa and no plan is the failure, and departing on your own terms is what avoids it.
Why refusal and withdrawal are not the same thing
If the visa is refused while the applicant is in Australia, the section 48 bar is likely to apply, which closes off most further onshore applications and forces a departure to apply again. A withdrawal does not trigger it.
That single difference is often the deciding factor between the options above, and it is worth understanding properly before choosing. We have set out how the bar works, when it does not apply, and which visas remain available in our guide to the section 48 bar.
What to do today
Read the decision record and identify every ground relied on. Check ImmiAccount rather than waiting for an email. Establish the applicant’s genuine temporary entrant position, because it determines whether a section 57 letter is coming. Then work down the four options, knowing that a refusal and a withdrawal leave the applicant in very different positions.
If a 407 nomination has just been refused and you are working out which of those four is right, book a consultation and we will go through the decision record and map the options against the days you actually have.
Andrew Heathcote, Registered Migration Agent (MARN 0850840)
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have after a 407 nomination is refused?
Less time than you would like, and no fixed period. Where a visa application is already on hand, we understand the Department’s general practice is to allow around 14 days before deciding the visa, but that is administrative practice rather than a period set by the legislation, so it confers no right and can be shorter. Two deadlines are firmer: a section 57 natural justice letter carries a 28 day response period, and an application to the Administrative Review Tribunal is generally due 28 days after you are notified of the nomination decision. Your decision letter states the deadlines that apply to you.
Can I lodge a new 407 nomination after a refusal?
Yes. A further nomination can be lodged and the Department asked to link it to the pending visa application. It needs to answer every ground the delegate relied on, not only the main one, and in the current environment that usually means rebuilding the training plan around the individual nominee rather than amending the previous version.
Should I withdraw the visa application instead?
Sometimes, and it is the option people overlook. If the visa is refused onshore the section 48 bar is likely to apply, closing off most further onshore applications. A withdrawal does not trigger it. Which is right depends on the file, and the window is short and not guaranteed, so get advice straight away.
What if I never received a nomination refusal letter?
Check ImmiAccount. If the sponsorship failed at stage one, the nomination is usually treated as otherwise finalised rather than refused, which means no refusal decision, no review right attached to it, and no notification email you can rely on.
Is a 407 nomination refusal reviewable?
A decision to refuse to approve a nomination of an occupation, activity or position can be reviewed by the Administrative Review Tribunal. The application fee for a reviewable migration decision is $3,727 as at 1 July 2026, with a 50 per cent reduction available on hardship grounds. Your decision letter confirms whether the decision is reviewable and who is entitled to apply.