s57 – Natural Justice – Invitation to Comment
Have you received a Natural Justice letter from the Department of Home Affairs?
Section 57 of the Migration Act 1958 (‘the Act’) is a legal basis that requires the Department of Home Affairs to provide you with an opportunity to respond and present information to adverse information they have, before they make a decision on your visa application.
What are your next steps?
When you receive a s57 Natural Justice letter, it is important that you review the information contained in the letter to understand why the Department is considering refusing your visa application.
It may be that they have found or reasonably suspect that you have provided false or misleading information, or it could be that based on the information before them, you do not appear to meet a certain criterion for the visa.
In any case, it is important that you seek advice on how to respond to the Department as soon as possible. It is important that you act quickly, as the deadline for you to respond is generally 28 days.
How can we help?
Ethos Migration Lawyers have successfully assisted many visa applicants respond to natural justice letters and have their visas granted.
We will review the natural justice letter in detail and provide you specific advice on what your next steps should be.
If the Departments claims are wrong, we will prepare written submissions with supporting evidence proving that their assessment is incorrect.
In other cases, we may advise you to withdraw the visa application to avoid being subject to a Section 48 bar, or an exclusion period.
If you would like to speak to one of our immigration lawyers and registered migration agents for more information on responding to a natural justice letter, get in touch with Ethos Migration Lawyers today.
s57 Natural Justice Frequently Asked Questions
Section 57 of the Migration Act 1958 (‘the Act’) requires the Department of Home Affairs to provide you with an opportunity to comment and present information if the Department is considering refusing your visa application.
Natural Justice is a legal term used when the Department is considering cancelling your visa and is giving you an opportunity to provide comment before they do so.
Yes, Natural Justice is also known as ‘Procedural Fairness’ which is another term that is used when the Department is providing you with an opportunity to provide information before they make an adverse finding.
Depending on the adverse information the Department has, if your visa is refused based on providing false and misleading information you may be subject to a re-entry ban also known as an ‘exclusion period’.
In most cases, the Department will afford you 28 days to provide your response.