How to Ask the Administrative Review Tribunal to Review an Australian Visa Refusal

Can the ART review your visa refusal?

Not every Australian visa refusal can be reviewed by the Administrative Review Tribunal. The first step is to read the Department of Home Affairs refusal notification letter. Home Affairs states that this letter tells you whether you have a right to seek review by the ART.

The ART can review certain decisions under the Migration Act 1958 to refuse or cancel visas. The Migration Act and Migration Regulations 1994 determine which decisions are reviewable. Your decision letter also identifies whether you are a person entitled to apply.

The ART cannot review a decision if you are not legally entitled to apply. Its general migration review information also distinguishes ordinary migration decisions from protection visa decisions, character-related decisions and cancellation of business visas under section 134, which have different rules.

Who should lodge the review application?

The person entitled to apply depends on the particular reviewable decision. For some refusals it is the visa applicant; for some offshore sponsored visa decisions it may instead be the sponsor or nominator, and other statutory categories have their own rules.

Do not assume that the person whose visa was refused is automatically the ART review applicant. Use the Home Affairs decision letter to confirm who is entitled to apply.

If you are currently in Australia, your visa status and conditions are a separate issue from whether you can seek ART review. You can check your visa status and conditions in VEVO.

How long do you have to apply?

Check the exact deadline in your Home Affairs decision letter immediately. The time limit depends on the type of decision and can also depend on whether you are in immigration detention.

For ordinary reviewable migration decisions under Part 5 of the Migration Act, the ART states that it has no power to extend the application time limit. Missing the deadline can therefore prevent the Tribunal from considering the review.

Do not rely on a generic deadline found for another visa type. Character-related decisions have separate rules: for example, an expedited character review generally has a 9-day application period, while a non-expedited character review usually has a 28-day period and may have different extension rules. Protection reviews also have their own requirements. The deadline stated for your particular decision is the practical starting point.

How much does an ART visa review cost?

For most migration decisions made under Part 5 of the Migration Act, the current ART application fee is $3,727. This fee has applied from 1 July 2026.

If paying the fee would cause or has caused financial hardship, you can ask the ART for a 50% reduction. The Tribunal considers household finances, including income, expenses, liabilities, assets, capacity to pay and other relevant circumstances.

For a Part 5 migration review, the fee must be dealt with before the application deadline. If requesting a reduction, the ART states that you need to have paid the full fee or 50% of the fee by the deadline. The migration application form further explains that a fee-reduction applicant must provide the reduction request and the required payment by the deadline.

Which visa reviews have different fees?

The $3,727 amount is not universal. The ART states that there is no application fee for a bridging visa decision that resulted in a person being placed in immigration detention, or for a refusal to grant a Subclass 070 Bridging (Removal Pending) visa without one or more prescribed conditions.

Protection visa reviews use a different system: there is generally no fee when applying to review a refusal or cancellation of a protection visa, but an unsuccessful review can result in a $2,293 fee payable within 7 days after receiving the ART invoice. Character-related visa decisions also use different fee rules; the current standard ART fee for those reviews is $1,195.

What do you need when you apply?

If you have it, provide a copy of the letter from Home Affairs notifying you of the refusal. The ART uses the decision information to identify the case and establish whether it has jurisdiction.

If you do not have the notification letter, the ART says you must provide enough information to identify you and the decision, otherwise the application may not be valid. For an individual, this includes:

• your full name
• your address and contact details
• the date of the decision, if known
• a description of the decision
• at least one relevant identifier such as your date of birth, country of birth, citizenship or nationality, or passport number and country of issue.

If the decision concerns a visa application and the person applying for review is not the visa applicant, the ART also requires identifying and contact information for the visa applicant.

The M1 migration application form asks applicants to attach the decision and Home Affairs notification letter. You can also provide documents supporting why the refusal should be changed. Online services allow additional documents and information to be submitted during the review.

How do you lodge the ART application?

The ART describes its online service as the easiest and safest way to apply. You need a valid email address and information about the decision you want reviewed.

Using the online service also lets you provide further documents or information during the review, receive automatic confirmation of documents you submit, and view documents you previously provided.

If you cannot apply online, the ART provides migration forms. Form M1 is for people not in immigration detention and organisations, while M2 is for people in immigration detention. A separate B1 form applies to decisions about conditions on a Subclass 070 Bridging (Removal Pending) visa. The ART also accepts applicable review requests through its published email, post and registry channels.

What happens after you apply?

After the application is submitted, the ART sends a confirmation explaining what happens next and notifies the Department of Home Affairs that the review application has been received.

The Tribunal can ask for further information or documents during the case. If you applied online, your ART online account can be used to manage the case and provide documents.

Most migration matters can involve further case management and, depending on the type of review and applicable law, a hearing. However, the process is not identical for every visa category.

What happens with a student visa refusal review?

A significant rule changed on 1 June 2026. For most student visa refusal reviews that were not already constituted to a Tribunal member before that date, and for new student visa refusal reviews lodged from that date, the ART must generally decide the review without an oral hearing, except in very limited circumstances.

This does not remove the ability to provide documents. The ART advises applicants that it will contact them about the next steps, including how to provide information relevant to the review.

How long does an ART migration review take?

There is no guaranteed completion time. ART statistics for migration reviews finalised between 1 February and 31 July 2026 show that 50% of all migration reviews were finalised within 1 year and 6 months of lodgment and 95% within 2 years and 10 months.

Individual categories vary substantially. For the same reporting period, 50% of visitor cases were finalised within 10 months, while 50% of student refusal cases were finalised within 1 year and 6 months and 50% of partner cases within 3 years and 2 months. These figures describe cases already finalised; they are not a deadline or promise for a new application.

Can you ask the ART to decide the review faster?

The ART automatically expedites some migration reviews where possible, including where the applicant is in immigration detention, the review concerns a visa cancellation, or a court has remitted or returned the case for reconsideration.

You can also ask for expedition in specified circumstances, including where new documentary evidence objectively demonstrates that a visa criterion responsible for the refusal is now met, or where exceptional circumstances make the review urgent. The ART requires evidence supporting an expedition request and decides whether expedition is appropriate.

Does applying to the ART let you stay in Australia?

Do not assume that lodging an ART review by itself gives you a particular visa or unrestricted permission to remain, work or travel. Your immigration status depends on the visa or bridging visa you hold and its conditions. Use VEVO to check your current visa details and conditions.

If you already hold a bridging visa but need to travel while another visa application is pending, the separate procedure on applying for a Bridging Visa B explains that process.

When should you not rely on the ordinary migration-review rules?

Separate ART procedures apply to protection visa decisions, character-related decisions and some other specialised migration matters. The ordinary $3,727 fee, forms and procedural rules should therefore not be copied automatically to those cases.

The ART also states that it cannot review a visa cancellation decision made personally by the Minister for Home Affairs or Minister for Immigration under the ordinary migration-review process, and it cannot review a decision where the person seeking review is not entitled to apply.

For a refusal decision, the safest practical test is the one provided by both Home Affairs and the ART: read the refusal notification letter for your review rights, eligible review applicant and deadline.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Waiting before checking the refusal letter. Migration review deadlines can be short and strict.
• Assuming every visa refusal can be reviewed by the ART.
• Assuming the visa applicant is always the person entitled to lodge the review.
• Using a deadline found for another visa category instead of the deadline stated in the decision letter.
• For a Part 5 migration review, lodging without dealing with the required fee before the deadline.
• Assuming the ART can extend an ordinary Part 5 migration review deadline after it expires.
• Using the ordinary migration fee or procedure for a protection or character-related case without checking the separate rules.
• Assuming an ART application automatically determines your current visa, work or travel rights.