Appealing a visa decision

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The Administrative Appeals Tribunal – Migration and refugee division

The Migration and Refugee Division of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the tribunal) deals with decisions about general visa applications and decisions about protection visas.

Review of visa decisions

If your application for a visa to visit, enter or stay in Australia is refused, you may be able to appeal the decision.

The Migration and Refugee Division of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal can hear appeals of decisions about protection visas and general visa applications if all of the following apply:

• your visa has been cancelled on character grounds
• you have asked the Department of Home Affairs to revoke the cancellation
• the Department of Home Affairs has decided not to revoke the cancellation.

You may be able to appeal the Department’s decision to the Tribunal as well.

After 14 October 2024, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal will be replaced by the Administrative Review Tribunal. The Immigration Assessment Authority (the IAA) will also stop operating on the same date.

If you have a case in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal or the IAA on 14 October 2024, your case will automatically be transferred to the Administrative Review Tribunal.

The Administrative Review Tribunal will have the same powers to hear appeals of visa decisions as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Applying for review at the Tribunal – refusal of a protection visa

If the Department of Home Affairs refuses your an application for a protection visa, you can ask the Tribunal to review the decision. This is called ‘making an appeal’.

There are strict time limits for making an appeal.

If you are in immigration detention you have seven days to make an appeal. If you are not in detention, you have 28 days. The time limit cannot be extended.

You should get legal advice immediately once you receive the decision.

Costs of a review – protection visa application decision

If you are appealing a decision about a protection visa there is no application fee to go to the Tribunal.

However, if your application is unsuccessful you will have to pay $3,000.

Applying for review at the Tribunal – refusal or cancellation of a visa on character grounds

If the Department of Home Affairs has refused to give you a visa on 'character' grounds, you may appeal this decision to the Tribunal.

The Department might have cancelled your visa after sending you a letter called a Notice of Intention to Consider Cancellation. This is a letter which tells you that the Department is considering cancelling your visa.

If your visa was cancelled after you received one of these letters, you may appeal this decision to the Tribunal as well.

A visa may be cancelled on character grounds because of your criminal record. It may also be cancelled if you have committed offences while you were in immigration detention.

Time limits

There are very strict time limits for making an appeal to the Tribunal.

If you are in Australia and your visa has been refused or cancelled on character grounds, you only have nine days from the date of the decision to lodge your appeal. The Tribunal has no power to extend this time limit.

In some situations, your visa must be cancelled. For example, your visa must be cancelled if you are currently serving a full-time sentence and you:

• have ever been sentenced to 12 months or more imprisonment (regardless of actual time served), or
• have committed a sexual offence involving a child.

This is called a mandatory cancellation, and it cannot be reviewed by the Tribunal. However you can ask it to be revoked.

You have 28 days from the date of cancellation to ask the Department of Home Affairs to revoke the mandatory cancellation. This means asking the Department to change its decision to cancel your visa.

If the Department of Home Affairs does not change the cancellation decision, you can apply to the Tribunal within nine days of being notified of the decision.

Read about Mandatory visa cancellations.

Costs of a review – general visa application decisions

The Tribunal can also review decisions about visitor, student, partner, family, business or skilled visas.

There are costs for having a visa decision reviewed by the tribunal. In most cases, you have to pay a fee of $3,000 when you apply.

However, your application fee can be reduced by 50% if the Tribunal is satisfied that payment of the full fee has caused, or is likely to cause, severe financial hardship.

Also if the Tribunal:

• makes a decision in your favour – 50% of the full fee will be refunded to you
• decide that your application for review is invalid – you will be refunded the whole amount that you paid.

Please note: If you withdraw your application, the Tribunal can only refund your application fee in a very limited circumstances.

Appealing decisions of the Tribunal

If you apply for a review of a decision at the Tribunal and you lose, you may be able to appeal to the Federal Court.
This is a different kind of appeal.

You have to show that the Tribunal made a legal mistake in the way that it conducted your case. The grounds for appeal are very limited and you will definitely need a lawyer to help you.

Get legal advice immediately before appealing to the Federal Court.