You can formally request access to documents we hold under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
On this page
Access to documents outside of the FOI Act
Check Requesting information and documents in Tribunal cases to find out if you can access information without making a formal FOI request.
You should also check the information we have published under the Information Publication Scheme and the FOI disclosure log on this page to see if what you are seeking is already available.
Your FOI rights
The FOI Act gives any person the right to:
- access copies of documents we hold, except exempt documents
- ask for information we hold about you to be changed or annotated if it is incomplete, out of date, incorrect or misleading
- seek a review of our decision not to allow you access to a document or not to amend your personal record.
You can ask to see any document that we hold. We can refuse access to some documents, or parts of documents, that are exempt. Exempt documents may:
- relate to national security
- contain material obtained in confidence
- be subject to other types of exemptions set out in the FOI Act.
How to make an FOI request
Your request must:
- be in writing
- state that the request is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act
- give us information about the documents you wish to access so that we can process your request
- give us an address so we can reply to you.
To make a request, you can use our Standard FOI request form.
If the FOI request is on behalf of another person or you are requesting access to information about other people, please complete our written form.
Where to send an FOI request
If you do use the Standard FOI Request form and the FOI request is about a migration or protection decision, you can email it to foi@art.gov.au, or send it to us by post.
If you need help with your request, please contact us.
We collect and use your personal information to respond to your request under the FOI Act. We will only use or disclose your personal information for another purpose if it is permitted under the Privacy Act 1988. Check our Privacy Policy for more information.
Fees and charges
There is no application fee for an FOI request.
We do not charge you for processing requests for access to documents containing only personal information about you.
We may charge you processing fees for other requests. The most common charges are:
| Activity item | Charge |
|---|---|
| Search and retrieval: time we spend searching for or retrieving a document | $15 per hour |
| Decision making: time we spend in deciding to grant or refuse a request, including examining documents, consulting with other parties, and making deletions | First five hours: Nil Subsequent hours: $20 per hour |
| Transcript: preparing a transcript from a sound recording, shorthand or similar medium Note: transcripts are not available for Migration Division cases. | $4.40 per page of transcript |
| Photocopy | $0.10 per page |
| Inspection: supervision by an agency officer when you inspect documents, listen to or view an audio or visual recording at our premises | $6.25 per half hour (or part thereof) |
| Delivery: posting or delivering a copy of a document at your request | Cost of postage or delivery |
If we decide to impose a charge, we will give you a written estimate that includes how it was calculated. Where the estimated charge is between $20 and $100, we might ask you to pay a $20 deposit. Where the estimated charge exceeds $100, we might ask you to pay a 25% deposit before we process your request.
You can ask for the charge to be waived or reduced for any reason, including financial hardship or on the grounds of public interest. If you make such a request, you should explain your reasons and you might need to provide evidence.
Processing FOI requests
Ordinarily we will give you our decision within 30 days, unless that time has been extended.
If a document contains information about a third party, we might need to consult with them and extend the time to give you our decision by another 30 days.
If your request is complex we might also seek your agreement to extend the time by up to 30 days or apply to the Australian Information Commissioner for an extension of time.
Appeal or review rights
You can ask for a review of our decisions where we:
- refuse to give you access to all or part of a document or defer giving you access
- impose a charge
- refuse to change or annotate information about you that you claim is incomplete, incorrect, out-of-date or misleading.
A third party who disagrees with our decision to give you documents containing information about them can also ask for our decision to be reviewed.
You can request in writing that we reconsider the decision through an internal review. An internal review will be conducted by another Tribunal officer. We will advise you of the new decision within 30 days of receiving the request.
Information Commissioner review
You can ask the Australian Information Commissioner to review our original FOI decision, or our decision on internal review, within 60 days of the date of decision (or 30 days after you are notified if you are an affected third party).
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
FOI disclosure log
The Tribunal must publish information about documents to which we routinely give access in response to requests under the FOI Act, except in certain cases. This is a requirement under the Information Publication Scheme.
Currently, the Tribunal does not routinely give access to any kinds of information that must be published under this requirement.
The Tribunal must also publish a disclosure log on its website. The disclosure log lists information which has been released in response to an FOI access request. This requirement has applied since 1 May 2011.
The disclosure log requirement does not apply to:
- personal information about any person if publication of that information would be unreasonable
- information about the business, commercial, financial or professional affairs of any person if publication of that information would be unreasonable
- other information covered by a determination made by the Australian Information Commissioner if publication of that information would be unreasonable
- any information if it is not reasonably practicable to publish the information because of the extent of modifications that would need to be made to delete the information listed in the above dot points.
The Tribunal has released the information described in the disclosure log under the FOI Act and it is available for public access. The disclosure log must be updated within 10 working days of information being released under an FOI request.
A link is provided in the disclosure log if the information can be downloaded from this website or another website. Information that is not available on a website may be obtained by writing to the FOI Contact Officer at foi@art.gov.au.
A charge may be imposed to reimburse us for the cost incurred in copying or reproducing the information or sending it to you. You will be notified if any charge is payable, and you will be required to pay the charge before the information is provided.
Information attached to, or referred to, in our disclosure log will generally be removed after 24 months, unless the information has enduring public value.
This disclosure log contains details of information released under FOI requests that must be published under section 11C of the FOI Act.
The disclosure log must be updated within 10 workings days after information is released under an FOI request. Documents are available on request at foi@art.gov.au.
| FOI reference number | Date of access | FOI request | Information published in the disclosure log | Other information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/0210 | 25 October 2024 | For the period of 1 July 2024 to 31 August 2024:
| Part 1: Migration data for Brisbane Registry (Qld) from 1 July 2024 to 31 August 2024. Part 2: Represented matters within Migration Division (Brisbane Registry, Qld) finalised from 1 July 2024 to 31 August 2024. | Full access provided to the document Document is available on request at FOI@art.gov.au |
| 2024/0227 | 30 October 2024 |
|
| Full access provided to the document Documents available on request at FOI@art.gov.au |
| 2024/0223 | 7 November 2024 | Number of draft decision checks undertaken by MRD Legal for decisions which were favourable (2023) | Number of draft decision checks undertaken by MRD Legal for decisions which were favourable (2023) | Full access provided to the document Document is available on request at FOI@art.gov.au |
| 2024/0224 | 7 November 2024 | Number of draft decision checks undertaken by MRD Legal for decisions of Member Tegen Downes and of those decisions how many of those draft decisions were favourable (2023) | Number of draft decision checks undertaken by MRD Legal for decisions of Member Tegen Downes and of those decisions how many of those draft decisions were favourable (2023) | Full access provided to the document Document is available on request at FOI@art.gov.au
|
| 2024/0247 | 13 November 2024 | Request for Tribunal documents relating to Resident Return Visas available on 17 February 2023 | Commentary – Resident Return Visas | Full access provided to the document Document is available on request at FOI@art.gov.au |
| 2024/0235 | 22 November 2024 | Number of cases decided by the Member for the period 16 Oct 2019 to 16 Oct 2020 where the Country of reference was China | ART report – Member Hugh Sanderson decisions for the country of reference China 16 Oct 2019 to 16 Oct 2020 | Full access provided to the document Document is available on request at FOI@art.gov.au
|
| 2024/0252 | 25 November 2024 | For the period between 1 January 2022 to 24 October 2024 figures for FA-600 for:
|
| Full access provided to the document Document is available on request at FOI@art.gov.au |