Australia Visa Systems Outage November 28 To 29

Published on Nov 26, 2025, 3:22 pm CST

7 min read

Key points

Australia visa systems outage will shut ImmiAccount and VEVO from 8:30 p.m. AEDT November 28 to 12:00 p.m. AEDT November 29
Most online services for lodging or checking Australian visas, including eLodgement, eMedical and LEGENDcom, will be unavailable during the 15 hour window
Home Affairs and Australian Border Force advise applicants with visas expiring November 28 to lodge applications before 8:30 p.m. AEDT that day
Employers, universities and education agents will not be able to run VEVO checks or batch audits during the outage
Travelers and sponsors should download VEVO records, print key documents and move any time sensitive actions forward by at least one business day

Impact

Where Impacts Are Most Likely: Visa applicants whose current visas expire on November 28 2025 and who wait until the evening to lodge are most exposed to problems
Best Times To Apply: Submit new or extension applications by close of business on November 27 or early on November 28 to avoid last minute system lockouts
Onward Travel And Status Checks: Plan for a full overnight period when you cannot check VEVO or upload supporting documents, and avoid booking flights that depend on same day approvals
What Travelers Should Do Now: Check visa expiry dates, prepare complete applications and supporting files, lodge early where possible and download VEVO records before the outage begins
Employer And University Actions: Human resources teams and international offices should run VEVO audits, confirm work rights and update enrolment and payroll records before November 28 and delay new checks until systems return

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A planned Australia visa systems outage from the evening of November 28 to midday on November 29 will temporarily shut down most federal online immigration platforms, including ImmiAccount and Visa Entitlement Verification Online, VEVO. The shutdown affects visitors, students and temporary workers who need to lodge or extend visas, as well as employers and universities that rely on VEVO to confirm work and study rights. Travelers should bring forward time sensitive applications and download key records before the 15 hour window to avoid being caught between visa expiry and system maintenance.

The Australia visa systems outage will see the Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force, ABF, perform scheduled maintenance that takes core services offline from about 830 p.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time, AEDT, on Friday November 28 2025 until around 1200 p.m. AEDT on Saturday November 29 2025. Officials and trade bulletins stress that during this period, users may not be able to lodge new visa or citizenship applications, check entitlements, or complete routine compliance checks, which creates unusual risk for anyone whose status or travel plans hinge on actions in that one day window.

A detailed operational notice circulated through freight and logistics channels lists the platforms that may be unavailable. These include ImmiAccount and the associated eLodgement portal for online visa and citizenship applications, My Health Declarations and eMedical for medical assessments, VEVO for checking visa entitlements, and LEGENDcom, the legislative and policy database used by migration agents. Other affected tools include the Australian Trusted Trader interface, Employment Suitability Clearances, the Detention Visitor Application service, the APEC Business Travel Card portal, and several education and settlement systems such as the Adult Migrant English Program reporting platform, education provider reporting, and the Visa Pricing Estimator.

For individual travelers, the most immediate concern is timing. ABF guidance explicitly warns that if a current visa is due to expire on November 28 and the holder intends to remain in Australia, they must lodge their application before 8:30 p.m. AEDT that day, because after that point the online channel may be unavailable until midday on November 29. Mobility advisers and education agents are taking a stricter view and urging clients with November 28 expiries to file by the close of business on Thursday November 27 or early on Friday, to leave room for upload issues, payment verification, or local connectivity problems that are outside government control.

The outage also temporarily disables the routine VEVO checks that employers, payroll teams and universities use to confirm whether a worker or student holds the correct visa and conditions. During the 15 hour window, organizations will not be able to run real time entitlements queries, batch audits, or automated right to work checks, which may force some to rely on previously downloaded VEVO records or physical visa grant letters instead. Companies that hire casual staff for peak season, as well as universities onboarding late arriving students, risk administrative delays if they plan to process start dates or course enrolments in that time.

Background, what these systems do

ImmiAccount is the central online portal that most applicants use to start and manage Australian visa and citizenship applications, upload documents, pay fees and receive decisions. VEVO is a separate public interface that allows visa holders, employers, landlords and some service providers to verify an individual's visa class, expiry date, and conditions such as work and study rights. Systems such as eMedical and My Health Declarations support visa linked medical examinations, while LEGENDcom provides official policy and legislative references that migration professionals rely on.

Like many modern immigration systems, these tools operate as a tightly coupled stack, which means a broad maintenance window can have ripple effects. When ImmiAccount is offline, applicants cannot submit new forms or attach missing documents in response to a request. When VEVO is offline, employers cannot easily demonstrate that they have checked a worker's entitlement to work, although most compliance frameworks still accept reasonable reliance on prior checks carried out in good faith before the outage.

Who is most exposed

Three groups face the highest operational risk from this specific shutdown. The first includes onshore visitors, working holiday makers and students whose visas expire on November 28 and who intend to stay lawfully in Australia by lodging an onshore extension or new visa before expiry. If they wait until Friday evening local time to file and the system is already down or heavily loaded, they could find themselves with no way to submit before midnight, which may push them on to more restrictive bridging arrangements that limit work rights and Medicare access.

The second group is offshore applicants with tight travel timelines, for example someone who plans to fly to Australia in early December and is counting on filing a visitor visa or work visa at the end of November. For these travelers, the outage window might fall in daytime hours in Europe, Asia or the Americas, effectively removing one business day from their planning calendar. The third group includes employers and universities conducting high volume compliance checks or onboarding, because their automated VEVO and education reporting feeds must pause or be rescheduled.

Australia has recently launched an online support service for people already in the country whose visas have expired or who hold a Bridging Visa E, which gives a lawful, though restricted, basis to remain while resolving their status or arranging departure. That service provides a safety valve for those who fall unlawful, but it is not a substitute for timely lodgement, and travelers should not assume that missing a deadline because of poor planning will automatically be excused.

Practical steps before November 28

Travelers who already hold visas should log into ImmiAccount well before the outage, confirm their visa grant details and expiry dates, and download or print the latest grant notices and VEVO checks for their records. Keeping digital and paper copies of key information makes it easier to prove status to airlines, landlords and employers if VEVO is temporarily unreachable.

Anyone with a visa expiring on November 28 who intends to remain in Australia should treat 8:30 p.m. AEDT as an absolute cut off for online lodgement, then work backwards. That means ensuring all supporting documents, including certified copies and English translations where required, are ready several days in advance and that payment cards or accounts will not be blocked by anti fraud systems when fees are charged. Where practical, bringing lodgement forward to November 27 reduces the risk that unexpected local internet or power outages interact with the federal maintenance window.

Employers and payroll teams should identify any staff with visas expiring in late November or early December and complete VEVO checks and re verifications before the evening of November 28, storing the results securely. Universities and vocational institutions should similarly run VEVO checks and update Confirmation of Enrolment data ahead of time, then avoid scheduling major intake days or enrolment deadlines for international students during the outage window.

Finally, travelers and sponsors should remember that this maintenance is short and clearly signposted. Home Affairs frames it as a security and performance upgrade ahead of the busy Christmas and southern summer season, when visa look ups and online applications typically spike. With simple steps like early filing, record keeping and adjusted onboarding timetables, most individuals and organizations can absorb the 15 hour blackout without serious disruption.