Ministerial Intervention

If your visa application has been affirmed (unsuccessful) by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), you can request Ministerial Intervention. Ministerial Intervention is a process whereby the Minister for Immigration can intervene in your case when the Minister thinks it is in the public interest to do so.

Unlike the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) and the AAT, the Minister of Immigration is not bound by the rules and regulations of a visa. What is and what is not in the public interest is for the Minister to decide. The Minister is not legally bound to intervene or to consider intervening.

It is extremely important to request Ministerial Intervention prior to the expiry of your Bridging Visa to maintain your visa conditions.

Once you have lodged a request for Ministerial intervention, the Minister of Immigration will determine whether or not to intervene and make a favourable decision to grant a visa. Only a small number of all requests for Ministerial Intervention are successful.

If the Minister does not intervene in your case, the Minister expects you to leave Australia when your current visa runs out.

Ministerial Intervention is usually the last opportunity for a person to remain in Australia and contest their matter. A request for Ministerial Intervention is a specialised area of work that requires a detailed submission and specific documentation to support any compelling, unique or exceptional circumstances in which a case might be referred for the Minister’s consideration.