Tribunal Appeal (AAT)

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Tribunal Appeal (AAT)

Appealing a Refusal 

Appealing a refusal or cancellation decision to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Tribunal) may be possible in the following circumstances:

• Visa application refused 
• Nomination application refused
• Citizenship application refused
• Visa cancelled

If you have just received notification of a refusal or cancellation, it is important that you obtain legal advice as soon as possible.

The urgency arises because the longer that you leave it, the less options you will have.

Tribunal (AAT) Review

The Tribunal has strict time limitations and if you do not lodge a review application with the Tribunal in time, it will be what’s known as an invalid application and if it’s an invalid application, you will have no review rights at the Tribunal.

One of the benefits of having your matter reviewed at the Tribunal is that the Tribunal is not a part of the Department of Home Affairs who may have made the refusal or cancellation decision.

The Tribunal hearing is what’s known as a Merits Review and a Merits Review is basically a second chance. At a Merits Review, all the information will be considered including any evidence that we are able to compile for you up to and including the date of the Tribunal review hearing.

What Visa & Citizenship Lawyers will do for you if you want to appeal to the Tribunal.

Visa & Citizenship Lawyers will:

• Assess the refusal or cancellation and inform you of the strengths and weaknesses of your case;
• Lodge a review application with the Tribunal;
• Inform you what information will help your case and guide you during the waiting time for the Tribunal review with preparing evidence;
• Work with you to draft detailed Statutory Declarations supported by evidence;
• Draft detailed Submissions and lodge with the Tribunal;
• Attend the Tribunal hearing with you and assist you in presenting your case before the Tribunal;
• Draft further detailed Submissions (if necessary), before the Tribunal Member has made their decision.

Example*

Beth is a UK citizen living in Sydney who is in a relationship with Kim who is an Australian citizen. The couple self-lodged a partner visa application for which they recently received a notification of a visa refusal. The notification refusal states that the visa processing officer does not believe that Beth and Kim are in a genuine relationship.
Beth and Kim book in for an initial consultation with Visa & Citizenship Lawyers to review the refusal decision and to help them. At consultation, the couple are advised that based on the information they have provided, they will have good prospects of success at a Tribunal hearing with Visa & Citizenship Lawyers assistance.

The couple engage the services of Visa & Citizenship Lawyers to represent them at the Tribunal hearing. Visa & Citizenship Lawyers work closely with Beth and Kim over the next 12 months preparing new evidence for the Tribunal hearing and at the Tribunal hearing, obtain a successful result. Beth is granted a visa and remains living in Sydney with Kim.

* (Names and facts have been changed to protect the identity of clients)