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When will I receive the decision?

We usually make a decision after conducting a hearing.

You will receive our decision at the end of the hearing or in writing at a later date.

If your case is about a refusal or cancellation of a visa under section 501 or about a revocation request under section 501CA, the Tribunal must make its decision within 84 days (or 12 weeks) after the day on which you were notified of the decision.  If we do not make a decision in that time the delegate’s decision against you will remain unchanged.

Watch our video guide for more information about receiving our decision.

Oral decision at the end of the hearing

We might tell you our decision and the reasons for that decision at the end of the hearing.

We will send you and the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (the Minister) a notice that sets out our decision without written reasons. If you want a written copy of the reasons, you must ask for them within 28 days after you receive the decision.  

Decision in writing

If we do not tell you our decision at the hearing we will send you a notice of our decision and the written reasons.

A copy is also sent to the Minister.


What does the decision mean?

We can make the following decisions:

  • Affirm the decision: the decision is not changed
  • Vary the decision: the decision is changed
  • Set aside the decision and substitute a new decision: the decision is replaced with a new decision
  • Remit the decision: the matter is sent back to the Minister to make a new decision.

What happens next?

The Department of Home Affairs is responsible for implementing our decision. If you are in Australia and not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, your immigration status may change following our decision.

If you have any questions about your immigration status, you should contact the Department.

If there is a delay in implementing our decision you can contact the person who represented the Minister at the hearing. They should be able to explain why there might be a delay.

You can also contact the Commonwealth Ombudsman if you are unhappy with a delay.


What if I do not agree with the decision?

If you think our decision is wrong you can appeal to the Federal Court, but only on a question of law.

An appeal to the Federal Court must be made within 35 days of the date of our decision.


Is the decision made public?

Our decision will usually be made publicly available on the AustLII website.

In cases about protection (refugee) visas, the published decision must not include names or other details which may identify an applicant or any relative or other dependant of the applicant.

Check the Publication of decisions policy for more information about the decisions we publish.

If you are concerned about information that has been, or might be, published in a decision, you can apply to us not to publish some information or the entire decision. Write to us stating what you want kept confidential and why. If we are satisfied it is in the public interest, we can decide to:

  • edit a decision to remove information
  • not publish a decision, or
  • recall a published decision.