According to Australian’s immigration law, the Department of Immigration has the right to refuse visa applications and to cancel visas that have already been issued. For example, 3 years of no-entry, No Further-stay clause, Partner immigration 5 year guarantee limit exemption, Schedule 3 Requirement and so on. When these circumstances unfortunately occur, the applicant of the guarantor has the right to appeal to the Immigration Review Tribunal (AAT) for the decision of the Department of Immigration. AAT is the English abbreviation for the Administration Appeals Tribunal. The Immigration Review Tribunal is set up by The Australian Federal Government in accordance with the immigration law. It is responsible for reviewing the Refusal or Cancellation of the Visa Department for various types of visas and reviewing the decision of the Department of Immigration. IF AAT believes that the decision of the Department of Immigration to reject or cancel the visa is correct, it can confirm the decision of the Department of immigration. If it believes that the decision of the Department of Immigration to reject or cancel a visa is wrong, it has the power to overturn the decision of the Department of Immigration but it does not have the right to make a new decision in place of the Department of Immigration. It must return the new decision to the Department of Immigration, allow the Department of Immigration to retake a decision in favour of the visa applicant or grant the applicant a visa, or return the cancelled visa to the original visa holder.
Who Has The Right To Appeal?
Under normal circumstances the applicant or guarantor of the following visas is eligible to file a review appeal:
- Family reunion category visas
- Work visas and immigration visas guaranteed by the employer
- Family travel visas guaranteed by relatives
- State immigration-guaranteed business immigration visas
- Skilled immigrant visas submitted in Australia
- Student visa applications submitted in Australia
- Student visas that are cancelled by the Immigration Department and the bail visa is denied.
However, most overseas student, business and tourist visa applications are not subjected to appeal if they are refused.
The immigration officer will usually state in the refusal letter or cancellation of the visa decision letter whether the applicant or guarantor has the right to appeal and the time limit for filing an appeal.
AAT Appeal Time Limit:
- Face-to-face or email notification refusal: 21 days
- Mailing notice refusal: 7 working days + 21 days
- Mailing notifications to overseas applicants: 42 days
General procedure for applying for AAT review arbitration
- Submit a valid appeal to the review arbitral tribunal within the specified time and pay the appeal fee (if the appeal is successful, the review arbitral tribunal will refund half of the fee; if the appeal fails, the fee will not be refunded).
- The AAT Review Tribunal will send a confirmation letter to the applicant and assign a file number to the application. At the same time, the AAT Review Tribunal will also notify the Department of Immigration to provide relevant application materials.
- Enter the waiting period.
- The adjudicators of the AAT Review Tribunal began hearing.
AAT Review Arbitration Tribunal’s review decision
The review arbitral tribunal has the power to overturn the decision of the Department of Immigration, but it does not have the authority to make a new decision or issue a visa in lieu of the Immigration Service. There are usually three types of decisions to review an arbitral tribunal:
- Affirm: The review arbitral tribunal considers that the decision of the Department of Immigration to cancel or reject the visa is correct, that is, to maintain the decision.
- Set aside: The review arbitral tribunal considers that the decision of the Department of Immigration to cancel or reject the visa should be corrected, and the review arbitral tribunal may make a favorable new decision in accordance with the immigration law.
- Remit: The review arbitral tribunal believes that the decision of the Department of Immigration to cancel or reject the visa should be reconsidered and the case transferred back to the Department of Immigration. The immigration officer will re-apply for the application according to the legal provisions of the review arbitral tribunal.
AAT review appeal notice
Not all visa refusals or cancellations are eligible for appeal, and it is only possible to achieve a positive result if the application is supported by sufficient justification and materials.
- Do not consider an appeal application to be a simple material preparation, usually including two parts of material submission and appearance in the appeal application. The appearance of the court is crucial to the application.
- Applicants must clearly understand the steps of the entire review arbitral tribunal application, actively participate in all aspects of the process, and carefully and fully prepare the information.
HECT Australia helps you regain your visa
The AAT immigration review application is a fairly complex application process. Throughout the process, applicants and guarantors are under tremendous economic pressure and mental stress, and very complicated situations often occur in the case. Therefore, keen judgment, careful analysis, careful preparation and effective communication between immigration lawyers and customers will be the key to directly affecting the success or failure of the case.
As an immigration law expert, HECT Australia has received a large number of appeal applications, accumulated a lot of first-hand experience, and achieved a success rate of 85%. If you encounter a refusal or your visa is cancelled, please contact us as soon as possible so that our immigration experts can analyze the case for you in the first time, guiding you to fully prepare the materials and grasp the valuable opportunities.
In general, the appeal application needs to be tailored to the different applicants to tailor the relevant appeal plan. It is not possible to generalize. If you need this, please prepare the following information:
- Original rejection letter
- Original application materials of the applicant and / or guarantor
- Contact information
And send it to our contact email or address, or contact us directly.
