What can I do to prepare for my Administrative Appeals Tribunal hearing?

Generally speaking, it’s possible to estimate when you will be invited to a hearing depending what year you lodged your appeal. When inviting you to the proposed hearing, the Tribunal is required to give you at least 14 days notice -  but that period can be less (with your agreement). 

Once you are invited you will have seven days to respond to the Tribunal and to inform them of any witnesses you would like the Tribunal to hear from and what evidence you intend to provide.

In order to properly prepare your case, and to have an understanding of the issues in your case that lead to the refusal of your partner visa, it is always advisable to obtain a copy of the information the Tribunal holds about you. Section 362A - Applicant entitled to have access to written material before the Tribunal - of the Migration Act 1958 is the legal basis for making such a request.

Exactly what documents are released to you via a 362A request will depend on what stage during the process you make the request. The 362A release should also disclose the existence of any ‘non-disclosure certificates’ that may have been made in your case: under section 375, 375A. How the Tribunal deals with and informs you of these certificates can have a significant impact on your appeal.

Put simply, these ‘non-disclosure certificates’ tend to be information that is adverse to your case and that could be the reason, or part of the reason, for the Tribunal not to make an unfavourable finding in your matter. Theses certificate also commonly cover ‘dob-in’ information that the Department has received about you from third-parties.

It is always a good first step to obtain a copy of your documents from the Tribunal and to obtain advice from our experienced migration lawyer Daniel Moya about how to address any weaknesses in your case.