On 23 February 2021 the Senate referred an inquiry into the efficacy, fairness, timeliness and costs of the processing and granting of visa classes which provide for or allow for family and partner reunions to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report by 10 August 2021. On 3 August 2021 the committee's reporting date was extended to 25 November 2021. On 18 October 2021 the committee's reporting date was extended to the first sitting day in March 2022 (29 March 2022).

The deadline for submissions to this inquiry is 30 April 2021.

Further detail about the scope of the inquiry is provided in the terms of reference.

It is not the role of the committee to resolve or arbitrate individual visa matters. Complaints about a specific visa matter may be more appropriately directed to the Department of Home Affairs (https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/), Administrative Appeals Tribunal (https://www.aat.gov.au/), or Commonwealth Ombudsman (https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/).

The committee may decide not to accept or not to publish material that is not relevant to the inquiry's terms of reference or which reflects adversely on others.

Please note that all documents sent to the inquiry become committee documents upon receipt, and are only made public following a decision of the committee.