Natural Justice Letter (s57) — What It Means and How to Respond

MARN 1576536

What a natural justice letter is

Section 57 of the Migration Act 1958 requires the Department, before it refuses a visa, to give the applicant particulars of information that is relevant, specifically about the applicant, and was not provided by the applicant, and to invite comment. The letter is often headed “Invitation to comment” or “Natural justice”. It will say what the information is, where it came from in general terms, and why it matters to a criterion. It is a legal requirement, not a courtesy, and it signals that the officer is minded to refuse unless the response changes the picture.

What triggers one

• Employer checks: a phone call or site visit where the employer’s answers did not match the application (duties, hours, salary, whether you work there at all).
• Document verification: a university, registration body or previous employer says a document is not genuine or was not issued as described.
• Inconsistencies with earlier applications: dates of employment, relationship history, dependants or travel history that differ from a previous visa file.
• Relationship doubts: information from a third party, social media, or an interview that suggests the relationship is not as claimed.
• Character and immigration history: charges, convictions, previous refusals or cancellations not declared.
• Public or third-party information: a company search, a website, a tip-off.

PIC 4020 and the bars

Many natural justice letters raise Public Interest Criterion 4020: that the application contains a bogus document or information that is false or misleading in a material particular. A PIC 4020 refusal carries a three-year exclusion from most visas that have the criterion, and ten years where identity was in question. The criterion does not require that you knew the information was false; it is enough that it was. A waiver exists for compelling circumstances affecting Australian citizens or residents, or compassionate circumstances, but it is narrow.

This is why the response matters so much. If the information is wrong, the response has to show that with evidence, not assertion. If it is partly right, how it is conceded and explained decides whether the officer treats it as material and false, or as an error that does not engage the criterion.

The response period

The letter sets the period, usually 28 days from when you are taken to have received it, sometimes less. An extension can be requested in writing before the date, with reasons, and is not guaranteed. If no response is received the Department decides on the information it holds, which in a natural justice case means the adverse information stands unanswered.

How to respond

• Identify exactly what is alleged and which criterion it goes to. The letter will name a criterion or a public interest criterion; the response is organised around that, not around the story.
• Get the evidence that answers it: the employer’s own records and a signed statement if the employer check went wrong; the issuing body’s confirmation if a document is questioned; contemporaneous records (bank, lease, messages, travel) if a relationship or history is doubted.
• Address inconsistencies head-on. Where the file contains an error, say what was wrong, why, and what is correct, with evidence. Silence on a known error is read as confirmation.
• Statutory declarations from you and from third parties, in the proper form, where the facts are within their knowledge.
• Submissions on the law where the point is whether the information is material, whether PIC 4020 is engaged, or whether a waiver should apply.
• Do not make new claims that cannot be evidenced, attack the Department, or send material that touches points the letter did not raise.

If the response does not succeed and the visa is refused, review rights at the Administrative Review Tribunal may exist for onshore applications. The natural justice response becomes part of the Tribunal file, which is a second reason to get it right the first time.

Send WIDEN a confidential enquiry

Tell us briefly what you received and the date on the letter. If the deadline is close, say so and we will prioritise it. These matters are handled in the extended consultation; the enquiry form is for sending the documents ahead of it, not for free advice.

General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.