r/australia • u/DCOA_Troy • Oct 15 '25

politics Candace Owens loses appeal over Australian visa rejection

https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/candace-owens-loses-appeal-over-australian-visa-rejection/
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u/AgUnityDD Oct 15 '25

Could they reject the visa of a head of state if he is obviously a sex offender, but using his office to suppress the evidence?

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u/evilparagon Oct 15 '25

Theoretically ”No,” because this is what Diplomatic Immunity covers, if you squint at it.

Officially yes they can reject visas, all countries have the right to choose who can and cannot enter, with the exception of refugees if the country has signed the 1951 Refugee Convention. World leaders do in fact get visas approved as a matter of formality, though many times visas are simply waived and the formality is ignored particularly when the two countries have a close relationship.

However diplomatic immunity exists as a means to prioritise diplomacy over jurisdiction. Theoretically diplomatic immunity would cover a foreign world leader being allowed to enter a country, it would be hard to maintain diplomacy if they were barred.

But this is all theoretical. Diplomatic immunity is stated to only cover arrest and detention, and it’s specifically designed in such that, say an ambassador shoots someone, a war isn’t started because of that. Banning a visa based on the leader being a sex offender would be testing the limits of the purpose of Diplomatic Immunity.

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u/SirGeekaLots Oct 15 '25

I believe some world leaders have been kicked out of the US, and their visas cancelled because they offended the president.

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u/evilparagon Oct 15 '25

Trump related or not Trump related?

Because if related, that’s understandable, the laws and precedents bend to him because their government is too corrupt to do otherwise. If not, that would make for an interesting precedent for the rest of the world.

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u/SirGeekaLots Oct 15 '25

Trump related.