Screen visa documents for alteration or digital creation before lodgement
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the documents proposed for a visa application, list each photograph, video, audio file and scanned record and note any marking on its face that it was edited, cropped, or produced with a digital tool. Do not say a document is false or forged.
- What the lawyer must review
- The lawyer decides whether the document can be lodged. The Department's page says providing altered, edited or digitally manipulated documents, including photographs, videos and audio, is unlawful, and says not to modify or create documents with digital editing tools or artificial intelligence. It says bogus documents or information that is false and misleading may lead to refusal, cancellation, restrictions on future applications, and legal action. Section 234 of the Migration Act 1958 makes it an offence, in connection with entry, immigration clearance or a visa application, to present a forged or false document, to make a statement known to be false or misleading in a material particular, or to deliver a document containing such a statement or information. Subsection (2) deals with transferring a document with intent or reason to suspect that it will be used to help a person who is not entitled to use it. The penalty stated in the section is imprisonment for 10 years or 1,000 penalty units, or both.
- Written for / version
- US
Open a jurisdiction version of this task to see which instruments apply: US
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | From the documents proposed for a visa application, list each photograph, video, audio file and scanned record and note any marking on its face that it was edited, cropped, or produced with a digital tool. Do not say a document is false or forged. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Mark only what is visible on the document or in its file properties. Do not assert that a clean scan is genuine.
- The lawyer reads section 234 before any document about which there is a doubt is lodged. The offence is not limited to the applicant.
- Do not repair a document with an editing tool. The Department's page says not to modify documents with digital tools or artificial intelligence.
- Keep this list off any tribunal file until the lawyer has decided the document is genuine.
Sources
- Department of Home Affairs, Providing accurate information · 2026-10-22
- Migration Act 1958 (Cth) s 234, false documents and false or misleading information · 2026-10-22
These are suggested working checks. Confirm the required checking with the responsible lawyer before work starts; the checking approach does not establish permission to use AI.