Fact Sheet 77 - The Movement Alert List

The Movement Alert List (MAL), administered by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, is a computer database that stores details about people and travel documents of immigration concern to Australia.

MAL is a key tool used by the department to apply the legislation governing the entry to and presence in Australia of non-citizens who are of character concern.

The information on MAL

As at end of October 2008, there were approximately 640 000 identities listed on MAL.

People may be listed on MAL when they have serious criminal records. Other people listed include those whose presence in Australia may constitute a risk to the Australian community and people who may not enter Australia as they are subject to exclusion periods prescribed by migration legislation. This can occur for a number of reasons, including health concerns, debts owed to the Commonwealth or other adverse immigration records.

About 2.1 million documents of concern, for example, lost, stolen or fraudulently altered passports, are also recorded on MAL.

Details identifying people of concern are recorded on MAL as a result of the department's liaison with law enforcement agencies and departmental offices in Australia and overseas.

If there is a MAL match a decision on entry is taken by the department in consultation with any other relevant agency.

Activating MAL

MAL is automatically checked as a departmental officer enters the details of a visa applicant into a visa processing system at an overseas Post or a regional office throughout Australia. It is also checked if a cient (or a travel agent/airline on behalf of the clinet) applies for either an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) or an eVisitor visa. If a match is recorded, it must then be determined if the person should be granted a visa.

Applying for a visa overseas

Anyone who is not an Australian citizen must have a visa to travel to and enter Australia. (Under the Trans-Tasman Agreement, New Zealand citizens have right of entry to Australia, subject to meeting health and character criteria. They are granted an electronic visa at airport immigration clearance on arrival).

For more information:
See: Fact Sheet 17 New Zealanders in Australia

Migrants, students, people coming for temporary work contracts and other long-term temporary stays, and visitors are all checked against MAL when they apply for a visa to Australia.

These checks are also applied to tourists and business visitors from ETAS and eVisitor eligible nationalities.

Tourists and business visitors can obtain an ETA or an eVisitor visa from from a travel agent or airline at the same time as they make their travel bookings.
See: Fact Sheet 55 The Electronic Travel Authority

Their requests for visas are automatically checked against MAL as the travel agent enters the information.

If there is any matter that requires clarification, the visa is not granted and the traveller is referred to the nearest Australian overseas mission.

Criminal convictions

In determining whether to grant a visa to an applicant, or to allow a passenger arriving at an air or seaport to enter, the Immigration Officer considers each case on its merits – there is no blanket policy of refusal or acceptance.

As part of this process, Immigration Officers take into account any adverse MAL record - the number of convictions recorded, the length of sentence served, the level of violence (if any) and when the offence was committed - and balances this against the person's reason for travelling to Australia.

Tough penalties apply to people giving false or misleading information in a visa application or passenger card. Their visas may be cancelled immediately, they can be removed from Australia and excluded from Australia for a specified time.

 

Further information is available on the department's web site.
See: www.immi.gov.au

The department also operates a national telephone service inquiry line.
Telephone: 131 881
Hours of operation: Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm (recorded information available outside these hours) for the cost of a local call anywhere in Australia.

Fact Sheet 77. Produced by the National Communications Branch, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Canberra.
Revised 17 November 2008.

© Commonwealth of Australia 2008.