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This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'FOI Request: Number and Status of Afghan Nationals by Visa Status'.


 
 
 
31 March 2022 
Alexander 
BY EMAIL:  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx 
In reply please quote: 
FOI Request:  FA 22/03/00328 
File Number: 
OBJ2022/5306 
Dear Alexander,  
I refer to your email dated 04 March 2022 in which you request access to documents held by the 
Department of Home  Affairs (the Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 
(the FOI Act). 
I  am  writing to  tell you that I  intend to refuse your request on the basis that a practical refusal 
reason exists. However, before I  make a final decision to do this, you have an opportunity to 
revise your request to remove the practical refusal reason. This is called a ‘request consultation 
process’. You have 14 days to respond to this notice in one of the ways set out below. 
Power to refuse request  
Section 24 of the FOI  Act provides that if the Department is satisfied that a practical refusal 
reason exists  in  relation to a  request, the Department must undertake a consultation process 
with you, and if, after that consultation process, the Department remains satisfied that the 
practical refusal reason stil  exists, the Department may refuse to give you access to the 
documents subject to the request. 
Practical refusal 
A practical refusal reason exists if either (or both) of the following applies: 
(a) 
the work involved in the processing of the request would substantially and 
unreasonably divert the resources of the Department from its other operations  
(b) 
the request does not satisfy the requirement in section 15(2)(b) of the FOI  Act, 
which requires you to provide such information concerning the document you are 
seeking access to, to enable the Department to be able to identify it. 
Scope of Request 
You have requested access to the following: 
Can you please provide me a document or documents which show statistics of: 
 
1.  number of foreign nationals who applied for Australian visas, broken down by nationality, 
Australian visa class & sub-class, and month of application, since July 1 2021. 
 
6 Chan Street Belconnen ACT 2617 
PO Box 25 Belconnen ACT 2616 • Telephone: 02 6264 1111 • Fax: 02 6225 6970 • www.homeaffairs.gov.au 
 
 

 
2.  number of foreign nationals residing in Australia who were  granted Australian visas or visa 
renewals, broken down by nationality, Australian visa class & sub-class, and month of grant, 
since July 1 2021. 
3.  number of foreign nationals residing outside of Australia who were  granted Australian visas 
or visa renewals, broken down by nationality, Australian visa class & sub-class, and month of 
grant, since July 1 2021. 
4.  number of foreign nationals not residing in Australia who were denied Australian visas, broken 
down  by nationality, Australian visa class & sub-class, and month of denial, since July 1 2021. 
5.  number of foreign nationals residing in Australia who  were  denied Australian visas, broken 
down  by nationality, Australian visa class & sub-class, and month of denial, since July 1 2021. 
6.  number of foreign nationals residing in Australia whose Australian visas expired and were not 
renewed or replaced with a different valid Australian visa, broken down by nationality, 
Australian visa class & sub-class, and month of expiry, since July 1 2021. 
7.  number of foreign nationals who  arrived in Australia, broken down by nationality, Australian 
visa class & sub-class (including without valid visa), and month of arrival, since July 1 2021. 
8.  number of foreign nationals not residing in Australia, who had outstanding (in-process) 
applications for Australian visas, broken down by nationality, Australian visa class & sub-
class, and month of original application, for each month since July 1 2021. 
9.  number of foreign nationals without a valid Australian visa who  departed from Australia, 
broken down by nationality, expired Australian visa class & sub-class (including those without 
any visa) and month of departure, since July 1 2021. 
10.  number of foreign nationals held by Australia in immigration-related detention (onshore or 
offshore), broken down by location (facility) of dentention and total detainee count per location 
(facility) for each month since July 2016. 
 
Reasons for practical refusal 
The Department has made a  preliminary assessment of the searches and analysis that would 
be required to produced documents that would be captured by your request. 
I  am satisfied that the Department would  be required to divert significant resources from its 
current operations in order to identify, locate, extract data and collate the documents held within 
the Department, and to make a  decision on access to those documents. This diversion would 
result in a significant drain on the resources of the area within the Department that would be 
required to process this request.  
I consider that this would result in this request imposing both a substantial and an unreasonable 
diversion of resources of the Department from its other operations and that a practical refusal 
reason exists in relation to this request. 
Request Consultation Process 
You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed. 
 
To remove the practical refusal reason you might consider removing some items of data that 
you have requested in the various points above as well as reducing the timeframe over which 
you seek the data. The data relevant to point 10 of the request may also be accessed 
publically at the ‘visa statistics’ page of the Home Affairs website 
(https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-statistics/statistics/visa-
statistics/live/immigration-detention). As such you we would appreciate this point being 
removed from scope.  
Under section 24AB of the FOI Act, you have 14 days to do one of the following: 
•  withdraw your request; 
•  make a revised request; 
•  indicate that you do not wish to revise your request.  
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If  you do not do one of the three things listed above during the consultation period (14 days) or 
you do not consult the contact person listed below during this period, your request wil  be taken 
to have been withdrawn in accordance with section 24AB(7) of the FOI Act. 
Contact 
Should you wish to revise your request or have any questions in relation to this process, please 
do not hesitate to contact the decision maker at xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx.  
 
Signed electronically 
 
Glen  
 
Position number 60081621 
Authorised Decision Maker | Freedom of Information Section 
FOI and Records Management Branch 
Data Division | Strategy and National Resilience Group 
Department of Home Affairs 
 
 
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