Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) Appeal
If your application for a Visa has been unsuccessful / refused or your current visa been cancelled, you will receive a letter from the Department informing you of your review rights.
You or a registered migration agent can appeal on your behalf. There are strict time limits in which the decision can be appealed. The appeal tribunals do not accept any expired application appeals.
The Australian government has established 2 tribunals to hear and process appeals in terms of immigration purposes – the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) and the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT). Each of these two tribunal deal with different visa applications, and in which tribunal you have to lodge your appeal depends on the type of visa application you have made.
You or a registered migration agent on your behalf can appeal at the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) if the Department refuses your visa application. There is an application charge (you can find out about the MRT application charge on the table below), but if your appeal is successful, the application charge will be refunded in part.
This tribunal operates without lawyers and has the power to change the decision made by the Department.
Where your visa application is refused the MRT review is a second chance to apply. This allows you to put additional evidence in support of your application, particularly if it was lacking or missing in the initial application, which is not unusual where the original visa application was made without the assistance of a Registered Migration Agent.
Where your visa is cancelled you can demonstrate why your visa should not have been cancelled and submit evidence in support of that decision.
MRT processing times:
| Case Category | Average (days) |
| Bridging refusal | 13 |
| Visitor refusal | 148 |
| Student refusal | 385 |
| Temporary work refusal | 406 |
| Permanent business refusal | 482 |
| Skill linked refusal | 264 |
| Partner refusal | 427 |
| Family refusal | 332 |
| Student cancellation | 211 |
| Nomination/Sponsor approval refusal | 427 |
| Protection visa | 250 |
| Other | 116 |
Application Fees
| Service | Fees |
| MRT Application Fee | $1604 |
| Refund if a favourable decision is made in your case | -$802 |