Tourists can have their visas canceled because of data in their phones

The Australian Border Security Force (ABF) became famous through the reality show Border Security: Australia’s Front Linerecorded scenes of them searching and discovering many violations of passengers entering Australia. In episode 14, season 16 broadcast in September 2025, a Vietnamese guest had his phone messages checked by this force, thereby discovering that he was using a tourist visa to work illegally.

The fact that this force checks tourists’ phone data makes many people wonder about their rights to access personal data. According to Australia’s ABC newspaper, this security force has the authority to check all types of goods at the border gate, including electronic documents and images on mobile phones or other personal devices.

In February, ABF randomly checked a Chinese passenger entering the country on a student visa, discovering 21 videos of alleged child abuse material stored on electronic devices. The authorities issued a decision to refuse entry, imposed an administrative fine of 660 AUD (about 11 million VND) and placed this person in a detention area to wait for deportation on the earliest flight.

“Preventing child abuse material is an important part of the ABF’s role to protect the most vulnerable in the community,” ABF Inspector Mark Vaughan said.

According to data from ABF, in just the first two weeks of 2026, 17 cases of travelers were stopped for possessing child abuse material on electronic devices, leading to visa cancellations and arrests.

Regarding personal rights, passengers can refuse to let security staff search their electronic devices, but this means the risk of being detained and transferred to law enforcement agencies for further processing.

“If you refuse, they will basically detain you and check those items,” said Daniel Hannay, Director of law firm Hannay Lawyers.

During the inspection, if information relating to prohibited goods or violations of the Customs Act and security issues is discovered, the ABF officer can copy the document, without the presence of the device owner. The concept of “documents” here includes all data stored on phones, SIM cards, laptops and other personal electronic recording devices.

In cases where entry is allowed after a search and no violations are detected, passengers have the right to submit a request to ABF to delete the copied data.

In addition to Australia and the US, many other countries such as New Zealand, Canada, and the US also have regulations on checking data on personal devices at customs. In 2024, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspected 47,000 devices from 420 million people passing through border gates.

Ms. Sophia Cope, senior attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), said travelers can choose whether to provide a password or not. If provided, CBP may inspect and copy sensitive digital information. If not, CBP will still confiscate the device and conduct further questioning.

To minimize risks, experts recommend that travelers take careful preparations before arriving at the airport. Completely turning off your phone and computer before entering the country is considered an effective measure to bring the device to a highly secure state.

At the same time, passengers should turn off face unlocking features (Face ID) or fingerprints because security staff will more easily ask you to unlock using these biometric forms than forcing you to provide a password. In case the device is confiscated, travelers need to request a property receipt as a legal basis for later reclaiming the device.

However, experts warn that you should absolutely not erase data or use a completely new phone when traveling. A device without data is often considered a “suspicious sign” that makes the authorities look more closely. Instead, the safe solution is to selectively delete sensitive information instead of wiping it all.