Check your decision letter

Your decision letter is the first place to look for your time limit. Below is what a refusal or cancellation letter normally states, where to find each item, and the questions to look for in your own letter.

This page does not assess your situation

Nothing here tells you whether your decision can be reviewed or whether you are in time. Your letter states your own time limit and review rights. For advice on your facts, speak to a registered migration agent, an Australian lawyer, or a free service. This site is not a migration agent or a law firm.

1. The decision itself

The letter should say what was decided: a refusal of an application, or a cancellation of a visa you hold. A refusal notice must identify the criterion you did not meet or the provision that blocked the grant (Migration Act s 66(2)).

Question to look for: Does the letter say whether the visa was refused or cancelled, and under which provision?

Which visa refusals can the ART review

2. The reasons

Unless a specific exception applies, a refusal notice also gives written reasons. The Department of Home Affairs describes the letter as saying why you were refused (Form 1025i, an older 2019 form that predates the ART).

Question to look for: Where in the letter are the reasons written, and are any documents attached?

What to do after a visa refusal

3. Whether the letter says the decision can be reviewed, and by which body

If review rights exist, the refusal notice must say that the decision can be reviewed, who can apply and where (s 66(2)(d)). Home Affairs tells refused applicants to check this letter to find out whether they can go to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART). Whether a particular decision can be reviewed depends on rules about the visa type and where the applicant was; this page cannot tell you that for your decision.

Question to look for: Does the letter name a body you can apply to for review? If it names none, what does it say about review?

How ART review works

4. The time limit

The letter should state the time in which an application for review may be made (s 66(2)(d)). The ART tells applicants that its time limits are very strict and to check the Home Affairs decision letter. As a general rule, the Act allows 28 days after the day the applicant is notified to apply to the ART for most reviewable migration decisions, or 14 days for a person in immigration detention on that day. Some character decisions have a 9-day period. The ART cannot extend these periods for migration and protection reviews or for expedited character reviews. Your letter, not this general rule, is where to look for your own period.

Question to look for: How many days does the letter say? Does it say what day the count starts from?

How the 28 days is counted

5. How to apply

The letter should say where the application for review can be made (s 66(2)(d)). The application is made to the ART. The Administrative Review Tribunal fee for most migration reviews is A$3,727 (checked 16 October 2026) and must be paid before the deadline; a 50% reduction on financial hardship grounds can be requested, and the ART decides whether to grant it. Protection and character reviews have different fee rules.

Question to look for: Does the letter say where to apply and how? Is a form or web address given?

How to apply to the ART

6. How the letter was sent, and the date to count from

The clock runs from the day you are notified, not from the date on the letter. A notice can be handed to you, posted, sent by email or other electronic means, or made available in an online account such as ImmiAccount (s 494B). Posted documents are treated as received 7 working days after the date of the document if sent from a place in Australia to an address in Australia, or 21 days after in any other case. Email is treated as received at the end of the day it is sent, and an online account notice at the end of the day it is made available (s 494C). A notice given to your authorised recipient counts as notice to you (s 494D).

Question to look for: How did the letter reach you: post, email or online account? On what date? Was it sent to an authorised recipient?