Access to Information
On this page
These pages will help you to understand when we can give you information about yourself, about others or about the department.
Release of your own information
If you want access to any of your own information, you should contact the department first. We can provide copies of some documents without the need for you to make an FOI request.
Example: We can provide a copy of the application you submitted to the department and copies of letters already sent to you such as decision letters or return original documents you have provided to the department.
See: Privacy
Movement Records
You may access your own International Movement Records over the counter at any Immigration Office or by sending the form below to your nearest Immigration office.
See: Form 1359 - Request for international movement records (107KB PDF file)
Access to documents
If you want to access information held by the department which the department cannot otherwise provide to you; such as your entire immigration file, third party information or policy documents, you may make a request to access these documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
See: Freedom of Information
Release under the Archives Act 1983
The Archives Act 1983 (Archives Act) gives the National Archives of Australia responsibility for preserving and conserving the Commonwealth's archives.
Both the FOI Act and the Archives Act provide the public with access to Commonwealth records. The main difference between the Acts is in the age of the records to which they allow access. Under the Archives Act, the public can access Commonwealth records under the open access period. The open access period is being reduced from 30 years to 20 years, over a 10 year period commencing on 1 November 2010. From this date the open access period for Cabinet notebooks will also be gradually reduced from 50 years to 30 years.
If you are seeking a document in the open access period
you should in the first instance contact the National Archives of
Australia (NAA). Please note that NAA also holds all passenger cards and movement
records for the open access period.
See: National Archives of Australia