Character Cancellation Revocation Deadlines: The Two Clocks Under Section 501CA

Migratio Editorial · Last updated 3 September 2026

TL;DR: If your visa was mandatorily cancelled under section 501(3A) because you're serving a prison sentence, you generally have 28 days to request revocation under section 501CA. If a delegate refuses that request and you're in the migration zone, you then have a separate, much shorter 9 days to apply to the ART for review of the refusal. Neither deadline can be extended. These are two different clocks, not one — and a different, 7-day clock applies if the cancellation was a personal Ministerial decision under section 501C instead.

Your cancellation notice may already have a deadline printed on it. Before you plan around it, check which of two very different processes it belongs to — the answer changes both how long you actually have and what happens next.

This article covers the deadline mechanics specifically: the 28-day window to request revocation, the separate 9-day window to seek ART review if that request is refused, and the different 7-day track that applies to a different kind of cancellation entirely. For the underlying character test itself — what makes someone fail it, and the general framework of section 501 — see our guides on section 501 character cancellation and how Australia cancels visas under sections 116 and 501, which this article deliberately doesn't repeat.

Two Different Cancellation Powers, Two Different Clocks

Before any deadline math, work out which power actually applies to your notice. Section 501(3A) is the mandatory cancellation power — the Minister must cancel if satisfied a person fails the character test on specific grounds (chiefly a 12-month-plus custodial sentence, or a child sex offence conviction) and the person is serving that sentence full-time in custody. That's the pathway this article focuses on, and its revocation-request route runs through section 501CA. A separate, personal Ministerial decision made under section 501(3) or section 501A(3) — the 'national interest' discretionary cancellation — runs through a different provision, section 501C, with its own shorter deadline, covered further below. The two are easy to conflate in secondary material and shouldn't be.

Clock One: 28 Days to Request Revocation Under s501CA

As soon as practicable after cancelling under section 501(3A), the Minister must give written notice of the decision plus particulars of the relevant information, and invite the person to make representations seeking revocation. Migration Regulations reg 2.52(2)(b) fixes that response period at 28 days after being given the notice and the particulars of relevant information under section 501CA(3)(a). This is the figure most secondary sources correctly cite for a 501CA cancellation — confirmed directly against the current regulation.

What the Revocation Request Must Contain

Representations under reg 2.52 must be in writing (in English, or translated), and must include your full name, date of birth, and a client, file or receipt number. If the original application was made offshore, the request must also identify the relevant Australian mission, along with a statement of the reasons for seeking revocation.

What Happens If You Miss the 28 Days

If representations aren't made in time, the Minister simply proceeds without considering revocation. The Act requires the Minister to table a parliamentary notice confirming that no representations were received in time, but the regulation as drafted does not describe any discretion to accept late representations after the fact. The 28-day figure is the hard constraint.

Clock Two: If Revocation Is Refused, You Have 9 Days to Go to the ART

A refusal to revoke is a separate decision, with its own, much shorter, deadline. Section 500(6B) provides: if a decision under section 501, or a decision under subsection 501CA(4) not to revoke a decision to cancel a visa, relates to a person in the migration zone, an application to the ART for a review of the decision must be lodged with the ART within 9 days after the day on which the person was notified of the decision in accordance with subsection 501G(1). Accordingly, sections 18 and 19 of the ART Act — the Tribunal's general filing-time and extension provisions — do not apply to the application. There is no extension available for this 9-day window, and it applies specifically to a person in the migration zone (physically in Australia) at the time of notification.

What You Must Lodge With the ART Application

The ART application must be accompanied by a copy of the section 501G(1) notification and one of the document sets given under section 501G(2). A failure to comply with this documentary requirement does not by itself invalidate the application — but that safeguard only covers the paperwork. The 9-day filing date itself remains the hard constraint, and it's worth getting the paperwork right the first time regardless, given how little time there is to fix mistakes.

The Separate, Shorter s501C Track for a Different Kind of Cancellation

If your cancellation was a personal decision by the Minister under section 501(3) or section 501A(3) — the discretionary 'national interest' ground, rather than the mandatory in-custody cancellation covered above — representations run through section 501C, not section 501CA. Migration Regulations reg 2.52(2)(a) fixes that deadline at 7 days after being given the notice under section 501C(3)(a)(i). This is a genuinely different, shorter deadline, covering a genuinely different fact pattern, from the 28-day 501CA pathway above. It's also worth knowing that under section 501C(11), a decision not to revoke under this specific track is not reviewable by application under Part 5 at all — there's no ART review available for this particular non-revocation decision, regardless of the deadline.

Who Can Actually Get ART Review of a Refusal to Revoke

The reviewability picture for a section 501CA refusal has a further layer worth knowing. Section 501CA(7) states that a non-revocation decision under that section is also, on its face, 'not reviewable by application under Part 5' directly. But section 500(1)(ba) creates a specific carve-back: it makes a delegate's section 501CA(4) non-revocation decision reviewable under section 500 — which is exactly the 9-day track described above. If, however, both the original section 501(3A) cancellation and the later non-revocation decision were made by the Minister personally rather than by a delegate, section 500(4A)(c) removes even that carve-back — meaning no ART review is available at all, and judicial review (on legal error, not merits) is the only route left. Whether your particular refusal was made by a delegate or by the Minister personally is stated on the notice itself and materially changes which of these applies to you.

If You're Not in the Migration Zone

The 9-day ART review deadline under section 500(6B) applies specifically to a person in the migration zone at the time of notification. This research did not confirm what deadline, if any, applies to a person outside the migration zone facing the same kind of refusal — check the specific wording on your own notice, or get advice directly, rather than assuming either the 9-day figure or a longer one applies by default.

Does a Registered Agent Help Here?

Yes, urgently, on both fronts. The 9-day ART deadline is one of the shortest deadlines anywhere in Australian administrative law, and the Act specifically strips out the Tribunal's own more generous default filing period to make sure of it — there is very little margin for a document error or a late lodgement. That said, be honest about scope: MARA-registered migration agents give immigration assistance, but a character cancellation at this stage typically also needs a lawyer working alongside the agent, particularly once the matter reaches ART or Federal Court. A consult to get the 28-day and 9-day clocks understood immediately, and to work out whether the cancellation was made by a delegate or by the Minister personally, is squarely useful — but it is not, on its own, a guarantee of a particular outcome.

Frequently asked questions

I have 28 days on my notice — is that also my ART deadline?

No. The 28 days is the window to request revocation from the Department under section 501CA. If that request is refused, a separate, much shorter 9-day clock then starts for lodging an ART application against the refusal.

Can the 9-day ART deadline be extended?

No. Section 500(6B) expressly disapplies the ART Act's general extension provisions (sections 18 and 19) for this specific application.

What if my cancellation was a personal decision by the Minister rather than a delegate?

That's a different track. Representations run through section 501C rather than section 501CA, with a 7-day deadline instead of 28 days, and a decision not to revoke under section 501C is not reviewable by application under Part 5 at all — meaning no ART review of that particular refusal, regardless of timing.

Does missing paperwork on my ART application invalidate it?

Not automatically — a failure to attach the required notification and document sets doesn't by itself invalidate the application. But you still must lodge inside the 9-day window; the paperwork safeguard doesn't extend the filing deadline itself.

Where can I read about the character test itself, not just the deadlines?

See our guides on section 501 character cancellation and how Australia cancels visas under sections 116 and 501 — this article deliberately focuses on the deadline mechanics rather than repeating that ground.

What if I'm not in the migration zone when I'm notified of the refusal to revoke?

The 9-day figure confirmed in this research applies specifically to a person in the migration zone. What applies if you're outside the migration zone wasn't something this research was able to confirm — check your own notice or get advice directly rather than assuming a particular figure applies.

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