Visa Refusals and Appeals at the AAT
Soon to be renamed the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART)
Unfortunately, sometimes visa applications are refused. This may occur if you did not meet the criteria, you did not reply to the Department of Home Affairs within the time required, or you made an error in your application. Sometimes, it may be that an officer was not satisfied with the documents or information provided.
In many cases, if your application is refused you may be able to lodge an appeal with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to have the decision reviewed. If you win your appeal, the Department of Home Affairs is required to consider the application again while following AAT’s findings.
Generally:
If your visa is refused for an application lodged inside Australia you may have 21 days to apply to appeal the decision.
If your visa is refused for an application lodged outside of Australia you may have 70 days to apply to appeal the decision.
It is not possible to lodge an AAT appeal outside the statutory timeframe. Missing the lodgement deadline means your chance for a review has been lost.
Processing times at the AAT can be lengthy and should be taken into consideration when planning an appeal. There may be a better way to get the outcome you hoped for, so we strongly suggest speaking with a Registered Migration Agent as soon as a refusal is received.
Note: Not every refused application can be appealed.