Migration Lawyers Parramatta

How does migration law work if you live in New South Wales?

Migration law is federal law. The Migration Act 1958 and the Migration Regulations 1994 apply in exactly the same way in Parramatta, Blacktown, Penrith or Liverpool as they do anywhere else in Australia. Visa applications are decided by the Department of Home Affairs, a federal department, not by any NSW body.

New South Wales still matters in three practical ways. First, the NSW Government decides who it will nominate for the two state-nominated skilled visas, the Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) and the Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491). Second, if a visa is refused or cancelled, your review or court case is run through the Sydney and Parramatta registries described below. Third, lawyers in NSW are regulated under the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW), and complaints about lawyers are handled by the Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner.

If you have received a refusal or cancellation letter, the deadline matters most. It is written in your decision letter and, for most migration decisions, it cannot be extended.

NSW nomination for the subclass 190 and 491 visas: what Western Sydney applicants should know

State nomination means a state government supports your skilled visa application, which gives you extra points and access to a visa you cannot otherwise apply for. In New South Wales the program is run by Investment NSW.

For the subclass 190 you cannot apply to NSW directly. You lodge an expression of interest (a profile of your occupation, points and experience) in the Department of Home Affairs SkillSelect system, and NSW invites people from that pool in rounds held through the financial year. Round dates are not announced in advance. Your occupation must sit within a group on the NSW Skills List, and you must meet one of the published residency criteria, such as having lived in NSW continuously for at least six months or working in NSW in your nominated occupation for at least 20 hours a week.

If you are invited, you have 14 days to lodge your nomination application with documents proving every claim in your expression of interest. NSW states that this window will not be extended.

The subclass 491 works differently. NSW publishes three pathways: one for people already working for an employer in regional NSW, one by invitation from Investment NSW, and one for recent graduates of a regional NSW institution. Whichever pathway you use, the visa requires you to live and work in a designated regional area. The Parramatta, Blacktown, Liverpool and Penrith postcodes are not on the Department of Home Affairs list of designated regional postcodes, so a 491 pathway generally means moving out of metropolitan Sydney.

When this page was last reviewed, the NSW Government website said applications for both visas were closed for the current program year because all nomination places had been allocated, so check the current status first.

Visa refused or cancelled in Sydney: review at the Administrative Review Tribunal

The Administrative Review Tribunal, which replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024, can carry out a merits review of many visa decisions. Merits review means a Tribunal member looks at your case afresh, including new evidence, and makes its own decision. Your decision letter tells you whether the decision can be reviewed and who is allowed to apply.

The Tribunal's only NSW registry is at Level 6, 83 Clarence Street, Sydney, between York Street and Kent Street. There is no Tribunal registry in Parramatta, but you can apply online, so you may not need to travel into the city until a hearing.

Under section 347 of the Migration Act 1958, an application for review of a migration or protection decision must be made within 28 days after the day you are notified, or within 14 days if you are in immigration detention when you are notified. For a character decision under section 501, or a refusal under section 501CA to revoke a cancellation, made about a person who is in Australia, section 500 of the Act sets a limit of 9 days. The Tribunal has no power to extend any of these limits, so a late application usually cannot be considered at all.

The Tribunal's website lists an application fee of $3,727 for most migration decisions, and says the fee must be paid before your deadline for applying. A 50 per cent reduction is available in cases of financial hardship. No fee is paid up front to review a protection (refugee) visa decision, but a fee of $2,293 becomes payable if that review is unsuccessful.

Judicial review in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, and ministerial intervention

If the Tribunal decides against you, the next step is not another look at the facts. The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2) can only examine whether the decision maker made a jurisdictional error, meaning a serious legal mistake in the way the decision was made. The judge cannot grant you a visa or weigh up new facts. If an error is found, the case is sent back to be decided again.

For people in Western Sydney, the Court lists two places for registry services and filing in migration matters: the Garfield Barwick Commonwealth Law Courts Building at 1-3 George Street, Parramatta, and Level 10 of the Terrace Tower Group Building, 80 William Street, Woolloomooloo. Under section 477 of the Migration Act, the application must be filed within 35 days of the date of the migration decision, which can be different from the date on your notification letter. You can ask the Court to extend that time, but you must explain why. If your case is dismissed you will generally be ordered to pay the Minister's legal costs, so get advice on whether there is a real legal error before filing. A further appeal on a legal mistake goes to the Federal Court of Australia.

Ministerial intervention is a separate, last-resort request. Under sections 351 and 501J of the Migration Act the Minister can replace a Tribunal decision with a more favourable one if the Minister thinks it is in the public interest. You must already have a Tribunal decision, the Minister is not required to consider any request, and there is no timeframe. The Department only refers requests that meet the Minister's written instructions, and new instructions were issued in September 2025.

Lawyer or migration agent in NSW, and how other states differ

Only three kinds of people can lawfully give you immigration assistance: a registered migration agent, an Australian legal practitioner, or an exempt person such as a close family member who does not charge. A legal practitioner is a lawyer holding a current Australian practising certificate, and they give immigration assistance as part of their legal practice. Education agents and unregistered advisers are not allowed to give visa advice. If your matter goes to court, such as judicial review in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, representing you there is legal work done by a lawyer.

Because the law is federal, the real differences between states are in nomination. Queensland, Victoria and the other states and territories each run their own nomination programs, with their own occupation lists, residency rules and ways of inviting applicants. An expression of interest that suits Queensland or Victoria may not suit NSW. Review and court deadlines are the same nationwide; only the registry you deal with changes.

What should you do first?

Find your decision letter or invitation and write down the date you were notified and the deadline it states. Keep the envelope or email showing when it arrived. Leaving Australia, letting a visa expire or lodging a new application can each affect your review rights and any bridging visa, so get advice before you take any of those steps.

Then gather your passport, visa grant notices, the full decision record and everything you gave the Department. Vitt Legal's Sydney office is at Level 49, 8 Parramatta Square, Parramatta. Anything we tell you about your own situation comes after we have read your documents; this page is general information only.