Parliament recently passed the Administrative Review Tribunal and Other Legislation Act 2026 which makes changes to the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 and the Migration Act 1958.

The changes to the Migration Act require the Tribunal to make decisions about reviews of certain temporary visa refusals without holding an oral hearing. The Government intends to apply this process to student visa refusals in the first instance.  

The amendments to the Administrative Review Tribunal Act allow the Tribunal to make decisions without holding an oral hearing in some other situations.  

The aim of these changes is to speed up the review process by allowing the Tribunal to more flexibly manage its increasing caseload.

Next steps

The changes commence on a date to be fixed by proclamation by the Governor General. The Tribunal will share more information when it is available.  

If you have already submitted an application for review of a temporary visa refusal, you do not need to contact us. We will contact you if there are any changes to how we carry out your review.  

Refer to the media release published by the Attorney General’s Department for more information.