Visa grant number

Identifies documents containing references to visa grant number in Australian contexts. This information type is classified as personally identifiable information under the Privacy Act 1988.

Type

regex

Engine

boost_regex

Confidence

medium

Confidence justification

category-aware structural regex with anchor and context constraints replaces phrase-only detection. Added context gating and exclusion rules improve precision and reduce incidental matches.

Detection quality

Not detected

Jurisdictions

au

Regulations

AML/CTF Act (Cth), IPA 2009 (Qld), NDB Scheme (Cth), Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)

Frameworks

ISO 27001

Data categories

government-id, pii

Scope

wide

Platform compatibility

Purview: Compatible, GCP DLP: Compatible, Macie: Compatible, Zscaler: Compatible, Palo Alto: Compatible, Netskope: Unsupported

Pattern

\bvisa\s+grant\s+(?:number|no\.?|#)[\s:#-]{0,20}\d{13}\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

visa grant number, visa, grant, number, government, ids, civil, status, ID number, identification, ID card, license, permit, registration, certificate, data record, database record, record set, data extract, data export (+18 more)

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

• Visa grant number: 1234567890123 — Labelled 13-digit VGN
• Visa grant no. 9876543210987 — Abbreviated label
• Visa grant number 1111222233334 — Label and value

Should not match

• 1718254800000 — Bare 13-digit (ms timestamp), no label
• reference 1234567890123 — 13 digits without a visa-grant label
• template example placeholder — Template/sample text

Known false positives

• Common words and phrases related to visa grant number appearing in policy documents, training materials, HR templates, or compliance guidelines without actual personal data. Mitigation: Require corroborative evidence keywords within the proximity window to confirm sensitive data context rather than general discussion.
• In Australian English, similar terminology used in formal or administrative contexts (education, professional documentation) that does not constitute sensitive data collection. Mitigation: Layer with additional contextual signals such as structured identifiers, form fields, or database column headers to distinguish sensitive records from general references.
• High-frequency pattern matches in large document corpora due to broad regex anchors. Expected match rate is significantly higher than specific identifier patterns. Mitigation: Tune confidence thresholds for bulk scanning. Consider using this pattern primarily as a pre-filter with secondary validation.

References

• https://www.passports.gov.au/apply-or-renew
• https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/tax-file-number
• https://www.abr.business.gov.au/FAQ/ABNBasics
• https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/already-have-a-visa/check-visa-details-and-conditions/overview
• https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/how-to-prove-your-identity-with-centrelink
• https://www.aec.gov.au/enrol/
• https://www.nsw.gov.au/family-and-relationships/births/birth-certificates
• https://www.afp.gov.au/our-services/national-police-checks