Refund Policy

Scope

Nothing in this policy limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law or the Legal Profession Uniform Law (Victoria).

This policy explains how Visa Plan Pty Ltd, trading as Visa Plan Lawyers (ABN 17 670 413 368), charges for its work and when money is refunded. Your costs disclosure and costs agreement set out the fees for your matter. Read this policy together with them.

The consultation fee

The consultation fee is confirmed before you book.

• Once the consultation has taken place, the fee is not refundable.
• If you engage us within 30 days after the consultation, we credit the consultation fee to your first instalment.

Fixed fees, stages and instalments

Most matters are charged as a fixed fee for each stage of work, such as preparing and lodging an application, or responding to a request from the Department of Home Affairs. Your costs agreement lists each stage, what it includes, its fee, and when each instalment is due.

If the retainer ends partway through a matter, whether you end it or we do:

• stages we have completed are payable in full;
• for the stage we are working on, you pay a fair value for the work done in that stage, capped at that stage's fee;
• stages we have not started are not payable, and anything you have paid towards them is refunded.

We work out the fair value of a part-completed stage from the work done in it, and we give you a bill showing how we reached it. You can ask for an itemised bill (see "Your rights about legal costs").

Government charges and other third-party costs

Visa application charges, nomination and sponsorship fees, the Skilling Australians Fund levy, Administrative Review Tribunal fees, skills assessment fees, and the costs of medicals, police checks and translations are set by the body that charges them, not by us. Whether they are refunded depends on that body's rules, not on the result of your matter. We will help you apply where a ground for a refund exists.

Visa application charges. The Department of Home Affairs refunds a visa application charge only on the limited grounds in the Migration Regulations 1994, such as where the application was unnecessary when made, the Department made a mistake, the applicant died before a decision, or a required sponsorship or nomination was not approved. It does not refund the charge because an application is refused or withdrawn, or because of a change of mind. A refund is requested through ImmiAccount or, where the payment was not made there, on Form 1424. See Get a refund (Department of Home Affairs).

Administrative Review Tribunal fees. For a review of a migration decision, the Tribunal refunds 50% of the fee paid if the decision is set aside or varied, or the matter is remitted to the Department. If paying the full fee would cause financial hardship, you can ask the Tribunal to reduce it by 50%. Other kinds of review have different rules. See Fees (Administrative Review Tribunal).

Skilling Australians Fund levy. The Department may refund the levy to the sponsor who paid it, at its discretion, only in the circumstances the Migration Regulations list. They include a visa refused on character grounds or for failing certain health or other public interest criteria, a visa granted where the worker never starts work, and some nominations withdrawn before a decision. A refusal on other grounds, or a refused nomination, is not in itself a ground. See Cost of sponsoring (Department of Home Affairs).

Money we hold in trust

Money you pay us before it is due, for our fees or for government charges and other costs, goes into our trust account. It remains your money until it is used as your costs agreement provides, and we handle it under the trust money rules of the Legal Profession Uniform Law.

Any trust money not used for your matter is returned to you within 14 days of our final bill.

Your rights about legal costs

Under the Legal Profession Uniform Law you have the right to:

• receive costs disclosure in writing before we start work, including an estimate of the total cost and how it is calculated;
• negotiate the costs agreement and the billing method with us (sections 174 and 179);
• receive a bill, and ask for an itemised bill within 30 days after the legal costs become payable (section 187). We must give it to you within 21 days;
• apply to the Costs Court for an assessment of our costs within 12 months after you receive the bill or request for payment, or after you paid the costs (section 198);
• ask the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner for help with a costs dispute.

A costs dispute should usually be lodged with the Commissioner within 60 days after the legal costs become payable, or within 30 days after we give you an itemised bill you asked for (section 272). The Commissioner can accept a later complaint in limited cases, if it is made within four months after that time limit. The Commissioner can deal with a dispute where the total bill is less than $314,330, or where it is more but the amount in dispute is less than $31,440, and can make a binding determination only where the amount still in dispute is less than $31,440 (sections 291 and 292; figures indexed, as published by the Commissioner from 1 July 2026). Where the Commissioner cannot resolve or determine a dispute, for example because the bill is above those limits or the Commissioner considers the costs fair and reasonable, you may be able to apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) or to the Costs Court, and the Commissioner will tell you about those rights. See Legal costs: what rights does a consumer have? and Disputing your bill (Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner).

Please raise any concern about our costs with us first. We will try to resolve it with you directly.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

How to request a refund

Email enquiry@visaplan.au or write to us, with your name, your matter, the amount and the reason. We will check the request against your costs agreement and this policy and reply in writing with our decision and the reasons for it.

Contact us

Visa Plan Lawyers, Level 13, 257 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000. Email enquiry@visaplan.au or call (03) 9958 5854.