ContactsService Charter
The Tribunals’ Service Charter expresses our commitment to providing a professional and courteous service to review applicants and other persons with whom we deal. It sets out what our service standards are, and how to make suggestions or complaints.
pdfThe time standards for conducting reviews are set out each year in the Tribunals’ Caseload and constitution policy. The time standards for 2008-09 are:
Bridging visa (detention) cases: |
7 working days from lodgement to decision |
Protection visa cases: |
90 calendar days from receipt of the Department’s documents to decision |
MRT visa cancellation cases: |
120 calendar days from lodgement to decision. |
All other MRT cases: |
320 calendar days from lodgement to decision |
The Tribunals aim to decide at least 70% of cases within these time standards. This recognises that additional time is often required to provide procedural fairness. Additional time may be necessary if a hearing needs to be rescheduled because of illness or the unavailability of an interpreter, if the Member wishes to schedule a second hearing, if the applicant requests a further hearing, if the applicant requests further time to obtain evidence, or to comment on or respond to information, if new information becomes available or if another body or agency has been asked for a report or an assessment.