Dear (Name of client)

You have lodged an application seeking access to documents held by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. The Departments records show that you arrived by boat on or after 13 August 2012.

As you may be aware, the Department has started inviting people who arrived in Australia as an Illegal Maritime Arrival (IMA) to apply for a Protection visa. Invitations to apply for Protection visas are being sent to people according to the order in which they arrived in Australia, although priority is also being given to those in immigration detention.

The Departments records indicate that the visa application bar has not yet been lifted in your case and that you have not yet been sent an invitation to apply. As there are many people to process, we need to prioritise requests from people who have been invited to apply.

We are therefore returning your request for documents.

Applicants need to wait until it is their turn to apply for a Protection visa. The webpage, When will my claims for asylum be considered at www.immi.gov.au/About/Pages/ima/when-will-my-claims-for-asylum-be-considered.aspx provides information about who is being invited and will be updated as processing progresses.

When it is your turn to apply, you will be sent a letter inviting you to lodge an application. You do not need to include in your application personal information that the department already holds. If you still think you need personal information that the Department holds, you should wait until it is close to your turn to be processed to seek that information. Check the When will my claims for asylum be considered webpage for this information.

While you are waiting to be invited to apply, you should:

read the Protection Application Information and Guides (PAIG), which are available at www.immi.gov.au/paig. These guides provide clear instructions and information about the protection application and assessment process

keep your contact details up to date monitor the website for the date range of the group of clients being processed. This will

provide an indicative timeframe for when you are likely to be invited to apply and should assist you in timing your application seeking access to documents held by the Department (if needed).

If the Departments records are incorrect and you have received an invitation to apply for a Protection visa please call me on Telephone number quoting your Client ID and reference number.