Had a visa refused or cancelled?

If you have had an application refused or a visa cancelled, we can help. Most refusals and cancellations carry a right of appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). This is a merit review process – the Tribunal will assess your application independently of the Department of Immigration. At PAX Migration we map your appeal prospects in our first meeting and provide a full-service case management right up until a final decision is made by the Tribunal. We will be with you every step of the way.

  • development of strong arguments
  • ensuring your appeal is lodged in the right way and on time (very critical)
  • assist you in obtaining sufficiently credible evidence
  • referral to expert opinion witnesses
  • preparing and lodging written submissions
  • development of a “plan b” (eg. making a new application in parallel)
  • attending the hearing with you and defending your right to a lawful hearing

Learn more below about the appeal process and book a consultation to get the right advice for your appeal today.

We fight for you

At PAX Migration we provide a full service case management for Tribunal appeals. We ensure our clients navigate the various milestones such as applying within the deadline (critical), developing strong arguments, obtaining sufficiently credible evidence, lodging written submissions, and attendance at a hearing.

Some of the things we do when we handle your tribunal appeal for you:

  • Apply to the Tribunal on your behalf
  • Devise a strategy to give you the best possible chances for achieving your immigration goal from your appeal
  • Provide guidance as to what will be relevant for you to explain to the review body in support of your case
  • Support you in gathering evidence and documentation in support of your review claims
  • Prepare written submissions to the relevant review body
  • Appear in any interviews and tribunal hearings with you
  • Liaise with the Tribunal hearing your case as well as other interested parties as required
  • Identify further opportunities for appeal or Ministerial intervention

Contact us today to book your initial consultation and start the process to achieving a successful outcome!

Case Studies

Lifting the sponsorship bar

There is a rule that prevents Australians from sponsoring more than two partners in their lifetime. There is a discretionary power for the Minister to waive those requirements in compelling circumstances. This was the situation when Aaron approached PAX Migration to handle his wife’s visa appeal – this was his third sponsorship in his lifetime.

The task at hand was to demonstrate compelling circumstances affecting the sponsor to justify the waiver of the sponsorship limitation. Compelling circumstances are a very high bar when it comes to migration matters- standard anxiety and suffering resulting from separation of partners is not enough – this is something that exists in every case and is therefore not exceptional. We needed something strong to convince the AAT to overturn the refusal and exercise the waiver. What did we come up with? Read the full story for the details, but to cut a long story short – we ran a very strong argument, complete with medical expert reports demonstrating that if the waiver was not granted the sponsor would have to leave Australia and his biological children (all Australian citizens) would suffer great hardship as a result. This was our strongest argument and it was enough to get the application remitted to the Department and ultimately visa grant. Needless to say, Aaron and his wife Nelly were over the moon!

 

Genuine and Continuing Relationship?

Mario’s offshore partner visa application had been refused because the case officer didn’t give significant weight to the evidence provided and he failed to provide correct answers to questions about the relationship in an interview with Immigration officers. He needed to succeed on appeal, otherwise he would not be able to return to Australia to be with his Australian wife.

We lodged the appeal and began work on the case, developing a pathway to success. The pathway involved (1) demonstrating that the applicant and sponsor are clearly in a genuine spousal relationship in accordance with the Migration Act and its Regulations, and (2) addressing concerns raised by the case officer in their refusal decision record as to the evidence provided and answers given at interview.

We used the time between lodgement and Tribunal hearing to gather a wealth of new evidence of the relationship. This would be critical in establishing the genuineness – providing evidence the Department did not have is a very useful pathway to appeal success. We also worked on picking apart the case officer’s decision. We needed to show that the case officer had not given the evidence provided correct import. We also needed to show that the incorrect answers by the applicant at interview should not be relied upon to make an unfavourable decision.

It was a tough case -but we love a challenge. To cut a long a long story short, the Tribunal hearing went exceptionally well and Mario and Mia are now living happily ever after in Adelaide.

Want to learn more?