UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency, has found Saudi teen Rahaf Mohammed Al-Qunun is a refugee.
Her case will now be referred to Australia for consideration.
Earlier Wednesday, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says there will be no "special treatment" in the case of an 18-year-old Saudi woman's desperate plea for asylum in Australia.
He said her case would be considered by UN referral in the usual way.
Speaking to reporters in Brisbane, Mr Dutton added that "nobody wants to see a young girl in distress and she has obviously now found a safe haven in Thailand".
Ms Al-Qunun had planned to enter Australia on a tourist visa and seek asylum before she was detained by Thai authorities on Sunday.
She is now in the care of UN officials, after she said she feared her family would kill her if she were sent home.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the Australian government has been urging the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to process her case quickly.
Rahaf Mohammed Al-Qunun Source: AAP
"We've been successful in getting them to agree to do that," Mr Hunt told ABC TV on Wednesday.
Australia will consider giving Ms Qunun a humanitarian visa if the process finds she is a refugee, he said.
"Pending the outcome of that, if she is found to be a refugee, then we will give very, very, very serious consideration to a humanitarian visa."
In a since-deleted tweet, Ms Qunun's friends spoke about her concern for her 11-year-old sister's welfare.
"Please don't be hard on my sister," the teenager's friends tweeted to her family on her behalf on Wednesday.
Ms Qunun's father and brother arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday evening and have asked to see her.
But Thai immigration chief Surachate Hakpan said the men would have to wait to learn whether the UN's refugee agency would allow the request.
"The father and brother want to go and talk to Rahaf but the UN will need to approve such talk," General Surachate told reporters.
