This Act and the Regulations issued under it make the following major changes in immigration law in Australia: 1) a new Immigration Review Tribunal is created to review various categories of decisions made under the Act, most notably those made with respect to immigrants with an Australian sponsor; decisions made with respect to visa or permit cancellations, refugee status and humanitarian grounds decisions, and deportation orders cannot be reviewed; 2) the Tribunal is designed to operate informally and in an inquisitorial fashion, and litigants appearing before it have no right to representation, no right to address the Tribunal, and no right to examine or cross-examine witnesses; 3) rules on entry into and stay in Australia have been codified; previously decisions on these matters were made according to departmental policy, which could be flexible; 4) entrants will be considered illegal not only if they give false answers to immigration authorities but also if they fail to volunteer information about any material particular, whether that particular influences an immigration decision or not; those who do not hold a valid entry permit or who have ceased to hold one are also considered illegal; 5) the situations in which an illegal immigrant will be able to obtain an entry permit have been restricted as has the availability of humanitarian and compassionate grounds arguments; 6) a new "points test" has been introduced to determine whether family members will be allowed to join relatives in Australia; this test favors persons with the greatest occupational skills; 7) 97 different visa and entry categories have been created; 8) illegal immigrants have a 28-day grace period of grace in which to regularize their status, beginning on the day on which they became illegal immigrants; and 9) restrictions are placed on the ability of visitors in Australia to change their immigration status.

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