Hope for out of time AAT appeals

A new Federal Court decision has provided hope for appeals to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which were lodged out of time. In DFQ17 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2019] FCAFC 64 the full Federal Court found that it was insufficient for the Department to specify the time period by which an application must be lodged. Instead it found that the Department must provide a date by which the appeal must be lodged in the refusal notification letter. Failure to do so meant the decision had not been correctly notified and therefore the time limit had not started to run. Providing a specific date has not been the standard practice of the Department and therefore there are potentially many refusal notifications affected by this decision.

If you require assistance with a review application to the AAT which is out of time please contact us.