Fact Sheet 91 – Translating and Interpreting Service

Overview

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship operates an interpreting service called the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National).

TIS National facilitates contact between non-English speakers and interpreters, enabling access to government and community services.

TIS National provides a 24 hour a day, seven days a week telephone interpreting services to all states and territories in Australia and has access to interpreters speaking more than 130 languages and dialects.

To access a telephone interpreter, clients call TIS National on 131 450 for the cost of a local call (call charges from mobile phones may vary). Special nation-wide telephone conference call facilities allow a three-way conversation between the English-speakers, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people and a TIS National interpreter. TIS National also provides on-site interpreters for face-to-face assignments. TIS National also provides on-site interpreters for face-to-face assignments.

TIS National has established priority telephone lines for emergency service organisations, some parts of the department, and medical practitioners in general practice. When contacted, these lines assume priority within the TIS National contact centre.

TIS National contact centre routinely handles 3000–4000 calls per business day. During 2007–08, the highest demand languages were Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Korean, Persian, Spanish, Turkish, Serbian and Greek.

Access and equity policy

The concept of access and equity is central to TIS National operations. First introduced in 1987, and supporting many long-standing government practices, the Australian government's access and equity policy aims to ensure government services meet the needs of people from CALD backgrounds so that they can participate fully in economic, social and cultural life in Australia.

These principles, as described in the Access and Equity policy, are applied by all federal government agencies.
See: Access and Equity

Further information about TIS National is available on the department's website.
See: Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) National

User charges

TIS National provides interpreting on a fee-for-service basis to individuals, the Australian Government and state and territory government agencies, community organisations, and private sector businesses. The TIS National Schedule of Client Service Charges is available on the department's website.
See: TIS National charge structure

Fee-free services

Some individuals and organisations may be eligible to receive fee-free telephone interpreting and limited on-site interpreting services to facilitate their communication with CALD permanent residents and citizens of Australia.

These include private medical practitioners undertaking Medicare rebatable services, emergency services, trade unions, parliamentarians, some local government authorities, and non-government, non-profit community based organisations providing services for settlement purposes.

More information on fee-free services including details on how to qualify for fee-free services is available on the department's website.
See: Free services

Automated Telephone Interpreting Service

The Automated Telephone Interpreting Service (ATIS) allows English speaking clients to directly connect to interpreters in 18 high-demand languages. Users can access ATIS by entering their account and access numbers and selecting the required language. ATIS will automatically conference an interpreter in that language.

A 10 per cent discount on the TIS National scheduled charge will be offered to ATIS users. Further information on ATIS can be obtained by contacting TIS National.
Telephone: 1300 655 820

Translating

The department provides eligible clients with fee-free extract translations into English of certain personal documents necessary for their settlement in Australia. Eligible migrants (some permanent residents and Australian citizens) from CALD backgrounds during their first two years of residency in Australia can lodge a request for translation through selected Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) service provider in Australia.

More details on the translation policy, lists of eligible visa sub-classes and documents and addresses of participating AMEP centres are available from our website.
See: Help with Translations

 

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 9 am to 4 pm (recorded information available outside these hours) for the cost of a local call anywhere in Australia.

Fact Sheet 91. Produced by the National Communications Branch, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Canberra.
Revised 17 November 2008.

© Commonwealth of Australia 2009.