If your case is successful at the FMC

If your case is successful this means that the FMC agreed that the RRT made a legal error in the way it decided your case. If you win your FMC case it is important to understand that:

• If you win your case at the FMC, you do not automatically get a Protection visa.
• Your case is sent back to the RRT so that you can have another RRT hearing.
• This new RRT hearing will be in front of a different RRT Member.
• The RRT will look at your refugee claim again.
• You might have to explain all your refugee claims again at the new hearing or some parts of the refugee claim.
• Having a new hearing means you have a chance to submit any significant new information or new evidence about your refugee claim.
• You should read the original RRT decision carefully and be prepared to respond to any problems with your case raised by the RRT member.

If your case is unsuccessful at the FMC

If your case is unsuccessful at the FMC when you get the decision, it will say that your application has been ‘dismissed’. You will be ordered to pay “costs” (see here). If your case is unsuccessful you have two options to review our case further. You can either appeal your case to the higher courts or you can make a request to the Minister to intervene in your case. Please click on the heading below for more information about each of these options.

Appeal to the higher courts

If you are unsuccessful at the FMC, you have the right to appeal the FMC decision to a higher court. The next court above the FMC is called the Federal Court. You can appeal to the Federal Court to have the decision of the Federal Magistrate reviewed by a Judge. If you want to appeal to the Federal Court you must do this within 21 days of the date of the FMC decision.  It is a good idea to get legal advice about whether or not your case will succeed at the Federal Court before you apply to appeal the FMC decision. It is difficult to win your case at the Federal Court and it can be very expensive if you lose your case. You will have to pay the government’s legal fees if you lose at the Federal Court and these fees are usually very high at this stage – much higher than they were at the FMC stage.

Make a request to the Minister for him to intervene in your case

If you do not win your case at the FMC, and you decide not to appeal to the Federal Court, you still have one more review option for your case. You can make a request to the Minister to intervene in your case and either give you a visa or let you apply for a Protection visa again. For more information about the Minister’s power to intervene in your case and how to ask him to do this, please click here.