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Administrative Review Tribunal (AAT)
What is the AAT?
What Types of Decisions Can MRT Review?
Time Limits for Lodging Appeals With AAT
How Do I Lodge My Appeal?
What Happens At the AAT?
What is the AAT?
The AAT is independent from the Department of Immigration and Multicultural
Affairs.
It has the power to review certain administrative decisions made
by the Australian Government.
It looks at whether the decisions are correct in accordance with
the law, or if more preferable
decisions could be made instead.
What Types of Decisions Can MRT Review?
The AAT has been given powers to review decisions about
- visas refused or cancelled on character
grounds except when
the decision was made by the Minister personally.
- Deportation from Australia because of criminal charges
- Protection visas refused or cancelled on the basis of committing
a non-political crime against humanity, for eg. they are involved
in terrorism, human rights violations and serious crimes such
as genocide.
It looks at the information relevant to your case and makes its own
decision about whether your visa application should be granted or
refused or whether your visa should or should not be cancelled on
character grounds.
Time Limits for Lodging Appeals With AAT
- Usually, you have 28 days from the date of
the DIMA letter that tells you of their decision to lodge an
application for review to the AAT.
- If your visa was cancelled on character grounds you have ONLY
9 DAYS from the date of the DIMA letter, or the day
DIMA officer told you about their decision to lodge an application
for review to the AAT.
- If your visa was cancelled on
character grounds by the Minister for Immigration personally,
you CANNOT apply to the AAT. You can only
appeal to the Federal Court of Australia, and you have only 28
days after notification of the decision to lodge your
appeal with the Court.
How Do I Lodge My Appeal?
• An application for review may be made by completing and
lodging the
Application Form.
This form is in PDF format. You will need the Adobe Reader, version
4 or later,
on your computer. For help with using PDF click here.
- A $606 fee is payable in all cases except:
- If you are granted Legal Aid, or
- If you receive a pension or benefit from Centrelink, or
- You are in prison, in immigration detention or otherwise detained
in a public institution, or
- You are under 18 years of age
This fee will be refunded if your review is successful. You can
request a fee waiver
if you do not qualify for free application. The form for Application
Fee Waiver can be found here.
- The completed and signed application form, together with the
fee, must be lodged at one of the following addresses:
o If you are in Queensland, or Northern Territory,
to:
Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Level 4, Commonwealth Law Courts
Corner Tank Street and North Quay
Brisbane QLD 4000
or
GPO Box 9955
Brisbane QLD 4001
o If you are in NSW, to:
Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Level 7, City Centre Tower
55 Market Street
Sydney NSW 2000
or
GPO Box 9955
Sydney NSW 2001
o If you are in Victoria, to:
Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Level 16, HWT Tower, Southgate
40 City Road
Southbank VIC 3006
or
PO Box 9955
Melbourne VIC 3001
o If you are in South Australia, to:
Administrative Appeals Tribunal
11th Floor, Chesser House
91 Grenfell Street
Adelaide SA 5000
or
PO Box 9955
Adelaide SA 5000
o If you are in Western Australia, to:
Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Level 8, Quadrant Building
1 William Street
Perth WA 6000
or
PO Box 9955
Perth WA 6848
o If you are in Tasmania, to:
Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Ground Floor, Commonwealth Law Courts
39-41 Davey Street
Hobart TAS 7000
or
PO Box 9955
Hobart TAS 7001
- Remember that these forms can be lodged in person, by mail
or by fax only.
The Tribunal does not accept any forms submitted by email.
- AAT will send you a letter confirming that they received your
application.
It is your responsibility to make sure AAT received your application
on time.
What Happens At the AAT?
- A person from the AAT called a Registrar will telephone you
within 2 weeks to explain what happens next. It is very
important that the AAT is able to contact you. If the telephone
number or address you have given us changes at any time, you must
telephone the AAT
on 1300 366 700 and let them know your new telephone number and
address.
- About 1 week after the Registrar has telephoned you, a Member
of the AAT will hold
what is called a Telephone Directions Hearing. The Member of the
AAT will telephone you
and a representative from the Department of Immigration and Multicultural
and Indigenous
Affairs (DIMA) and the three of you will talk about your case.
- If you are in prison or in immigration detention, the AAT will
arrange for you to have access
to a telephone. If you are not in prison or immigration detention,
you can come to the AAT
in person to take part in the Telephone Directions Hearing. You
should tell the Registrar if
you want to come in person.
- It is important that you have with you the documents that DIMA
gave to you when they
told you about their decision. The Member of the AAT will talk
about what is in these
documents with you and with the representative of DIMA. The Member
might talk about
any of the following things:
- The reasons why DIMA made the decision.
- The reasons why you think DIMA's decision is wrong.
- What kind of information might support your case.
- How to get information that might support your case.
- Time limits for providing information to DIMA.
- Whether the Member of the AAT will hold a Hearing.
- The information that DIMA will provide if there is a Hearing.
- The date by which the AAT must give you its decision.
- At the end of the Telephone Directions Hearing, the Member of
the AAT might tell you to
give more information to the AAT and to DIMA by a certain date.
The Member might also
tell DIMA to give you and the AAT some more information. The
Member of the AAT might
also decide to hold another Telephone Directions Hearing to talk
some more about your case.
If so, the Member will tell you the date and time.
- At the Hearing you will have the chance to give the AAT information
which supports why
you think DIMA's decision was wrong. You can also ask your family
and friends and other
people to give information to the AAT about you and your situation.
These people are called
your witnesses. The information that you or anyone else gives
the AAT in the Hearing is called evidence.
- There are special rules about giving this information to the
AAT. You must follow these rules
if you want the AAT to use the information when it makes its decision:
- Everything that you or your witnesses are going to say to
the AAT at a Hearing must
be written down.
- You must give DIMA a copy of what you and your witnesses
are going to say at least
2 working days before the Hearing.
- Any documents that you want the AAT to look at must also be
given to DIMA at least 2 working days before the Hearing.
If you do not fax or send DIMA a copy of what you and your witnesses
are going to say and any documents you want the AAT to look at,
the Member of the AAT can not consider the evidence when making
the decision in your case.
You can fax the documents to Director of Litigation, Department
of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs on (02)
6264 1401. If you do not have access to a fax machine, you can send
the documents to the following address:
Director of Litigation
Legal Branch
Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
PO Box 25
BELCONNEN ACT 2616
- You must also fax or send copies of anything you send
to the Department to the AAT.
- If you do not have any extra information to give to the AAT about
your case the Member might suggest there is no need to hold a Hearing.
If you and the representative of the Department agree
that there is no need to have a Hearing, your case will be decided
on the written information that
has been given to the AAT. You will be able to send a letter to
the AAT saying why you think the
AAT should make a different decision in your case.
- You will be advised of the day and time of the Hearing. The Member
of the AAT will tell you at
the Telephone Directions Hearing whether your Hearing will be in
person at the AAT, or by
telephone or video. If the Hearing is held at the AAT's premises
and you are currently in prison or immigration detention, the AAT
will arrange for you to come to the AAT for the Hearing.
The Hearing will be held in a hearing room, which looks similar
to a court room.
- At the beginning of the Hearing, the Member of the AAT will usually
ask the representative of the Department to talk briefly about the
main issues in your case. You will have the chance to give your
evidence to the AAT. If you have complied with the special rules
about giving information to the Department, you can tell the AAT
about yourself and your situation and you can give any documents
to the AAT. Your witnesses can also tell the AAT about you and your
situation. When you give your evidence to the AAT, the representative
of the Department and the Member of the AAT can ask
you questions. The representative of the Department and the Member
of the AAT can also ask your witnesses questions. The representative
of the Department will also have the chance to give
information to the AAT. If the Department has any witnesses, you
and the Member of the AAT can
ask them questions. After all the witnesses have had their say,
both you and the Department will
have an opportunity to make a final statement. This is a brief summary
of why you think the AAT
should make a different decision.
- If there has been a Hearing, the Member of the AAT will either
give you a decision at the end of
the Hearing or tell you that he or she needs more time to make a
decision. If you do not get a
decision at the end of a Hearing, the AAT will contact you when
the decision is ready. You can come
and collect the decision or the AAT will send you a copy of the
decision. If your visa was cancelled on character grounds, the AAT
must make a decision within 84 days from the date DIMA informed
you of their decision.
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