How the 28 days is counted

The 28 days runs from the day you are notified of the decision, not the date on the letter, and the notification day itself is not counted. How and when you are taken to be notified depends on how the Department gave you the document.

The time limit for applying to the ART is measured from when you are notified of the decision. Section 347(3) of the Migration Act says the application must be made "within 28 days after the day the applicant is notified of the decision" (14 days if you were in immigration detention that day). The clock does not run from the date printed on the letter.

How counting works is described in general terms below. No one's date is worked out here. Use your decision letter, which for a reviewable decision must state the time for applying, and speak to a registered migration agent, Australian lawyer or free service about your own date. For the rule itself, see the 28-day deadline.

Step 1: when are you notified

The Migration Regulations require the Minister to notify a refusal by one of the methods in section 494B of the Act. Those include handing it to you, handing it to someone aged 16 or over at the last address you gave, dating it and posting it to that address within 3 working days, sending it by fax, email or other electronic means, or making it available in your online account such as ImmiAccount.

Section 494C then says when a document is taken to have been received:

Handed to you: when it is handed over.
Posted within Australia: 7 working days after the date of the document.
Posted from or to a place outside Australia: 21 days after the date of the document.
Email, fax or other electronic means: at the end of the day it is transmitted.
Made available in your online account: at the end of the day it is made available.

If you gave the Department an authorised recipient

If you told the Department in writing that documents should go to an authorised recipient, such as a migration agent, giving the document to that person counts as giving it to you (section 494D). The Act's own example says the review period then runs from when the recipient is taken to have received it. Check who your letter was sent to.

Step 2: counting the days

The Acts Interpretation Act 1901 says that when a period runs "after the day" something happens, counting starts on the next day. Its own example: if a decision is made on 2 August and a person has 28 days after the day the decision is made to seek review, the 28-day period begins on 3 August. By the same reading of the words in section 347(3), the day you are notified is not day 1.

Points that are not settled

Which section the ART treats as the source of 'notified'. The ART's practice direction has a note saying 'notified' means taken to be notified under section 379C of the Migration Act. In the Act as read, section 379C is headed as covering documents received from the ART, while the Department's letter falls under sections 494B and 494C. The post and email timing rules look alike, but we cannot say which provision the ART relies on in a given case.
Weekends and public holidays. The Acts Interpretation Act contains a rule that a deadline falling on a weekend or holiday moves to the next day that is not one. We did not find an ART statement confirming it applies to these migration deadlines, and the ART describes its time limits as very strict. Do not rely on it. The ART's fact sheet for expedited character reviews does say a 9th-day deadline on a weekend or public holiday moves to the next working day, but that is a separate rule for a different review.
Errors in the letter. The Act has a substantial compliance rule (section 494E): a notice that does not strictly comply can still count unless the failure is likely to cause substantial prejudice. The Act's example involves a notice misstating the period as 30 days. Whether any error helps anyone is a legal question for an adviser.

Different reviews, different counts

Character reviews have their own limits: 9 days for expedited reviews where the person is in Australia, and usually 28 days otherwise. See character refusal and cancellation under section 501. For people in immigration detention, see ART deadline in immigration detention.

The ART cannot extend the migration or protection deadline; see can the ART extend the deadline. This explains the general rules only. It is not legal advice or immigration assistance and cannot confirm whether anyone is in time; the decision letter states the time limit for that decision.