( When a decision goes against you )
Advocacy and appeals
Representation and review when the Department refuses, cancels, or writes to you first: responses, Tribunal review, and the complex matter.
( The situation )
Who this service is for
For people and employers who have received a refusal, a cancellation, or a letter that says one is being considered, and for anyone whose history, health or character makes an ordinary application a complex one.
General information only. This is not immigration assistance and does not take your circumstances into account. Migration law changes frequently. Confirm the current position before acting.
Shoreline Migration · Registered Migration Agent · MARN 2619597
( How we can help )
- A prompt assessment of where you stand and what is open to you
- The response to the Department, prepared and lodged on your behalf
- The application to the Tribunal, the evidence, the submission, and representation at the hearing
- Plain advice when a new application, or no application, is the better course
( What this covers )
When the Department writes to you, or decides against you
Advocacy is the work of putting your case, in writing and in person, to the people who decide it. Appeals are what follows when the first decision went the wrong way. Both start the same way: establishing where you stand, and by when something must be done.
A letter before a decision
A request for more information, an invitation to comment on something adverse, or a notice that the Department is considering refusing or cancelling a visa. The reply has to meet the point, with evidence, inside the period on the letter.
Review at the Tribunal
After a refusal or a cancellation: whether review is open to you, the application, the evidence, the written submission, and representation at the hearing. We take it on where the prospects justify it, and say so where they do not.
Cancellation
A visa cancelled, or at risk of it: on character grounds, for a breach of a condition, for incorrect information, or because circumstances changed. Including a family member’s visa that falls with it, and what each outcome means for the next application.
Sponsors and nominations
A nomination or a sponsorship refused; a sponsor facing action for an obligation not met; or monitoring by the Department. Advice to the business and the response on its behalf.
Conditions and status
A condition breached, sometimes without knowing it; a visa that has expired; a bridging visa to put in place; and the way back to lawful status before it is decided for you.
Health, character and waivers
The health requirement not met and whether a waiver is available; character concerns, including charges and past conduct; and the integrity criterion, where information given earlier was wrong or incomplete.
Exemptions, concessions and changed rules
Where the rules allow an exemption or a concession, making the case for it with the evidence. And when a new instrument, direction or policy changes your position mid-application, what it means and what to do.
Ministerial intervention
Where review is exhausted, a request to the Minister to intervene in the public interest. A discretion, not a right, rarely exercised, and made only where there is a real case to put.
The clock
Every response has a time limit.
Review time limits are short. They run from the day you are taken to have been notified, which can be earlier than the day you read the letter, and for the Tribunal they cannot be extended. Bring the letter to the first conversation: the date on it decides everything that follows.
Book an initial consultation( The pathway )
What happens after an adverse decision
From the day the letter arrives to the outcome, and why the first days matter most.
- Stage 1 of 5
The letter arrives
A refusal, a cancellation, or a notice that one is being considered. The time to respond starts now.
- Stage 2 of 5
Where you stand
Which decision it is, what can be done about it, and by when. We establish the date that applies to you first.
- Stage 3 of 5
The response
To the Department where it is still deciding; to the Tribunal where it has decided. Evidence, submission, and the argument that fits the law.
- Stage 4 of 5
The hearing
Preparation for what will be asked, and representation on the day.
- Stage 5 of 5
The outcome
Whatever it is, the next step planned with you: a grant, a new application, or advice on what remains.
( Talk it through )
Speak with us about advocacy and appeals
Telephone or email the office with a question, or book an initial consultation for advice on your circumstances.
Governing law
Advice on advocacy and appeals rests on the Migration Act 1958 and the Migration Regulations 1994, and on the legislative instruments made under them. What applies in your case depends on the visa, your circumstances and the law in force when you apply and when the decision is made.
- Migration Act 1958 (Cth)
- Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth)
( Related services )
( Related reading )
Initial consultation
Discuss your immigration matter
Book an initial consultation, or send an enquiry that sets out your circumstances.