After you apply for the NDIS: what happens next
Waiting is often the hardest part. Here’s what the NDIA does with your application, how long it has, and what each possible answer means for you.
- Timeframes from the NDIA’s own guideline
- What to do if the answer is no
- Free PDF with a printable checklist
General information only — check ndis.gov.au for your situation. Image is illustrative.
What the NDIA does with your application
It checks your application is complete
Once your application is complete, the NDIA sends you a letter with the date it needs to make a decision by. That date won’t be more than 90 days away.
It may ask for more information
If it needs more, it tells you what and by when. You’ll have at least 90 days, and you can ask for more time. If it can’t reach you, or you don’t respond in time, your application is treated as withdrawn. You can apply again.
It decides within 14 days of hearing back
Once you send what was asked for, the NDIA has 14 days to decide whether you’re eligible, not eligible, or whether it needs more information again.
If it runs out of time
If the NDIA misses its timeframe, it has to treat that as a decision that you’re not eligible. The NDIA then automatically reviews that decision. You don’t need to do anything.
If your situation is urgent
Tell your NDIS partner or the NDIA if things are urgent, for example if you’re about to leave hospital. The NDIA’s guideline lists situations, such as an immediate risk when the right supports aren’t in place, where it aims to decide within 2 to 5 business days. Read the guideline.
Useful things to do while you wait
Keep a short diary
A few lines a day about what was hard and who helped. If the NDIA asks for more information, you’ll have it. If you’re accepted, it’s the start of your planning notes.
Watch your phone and mail
Answer NDIA requests as soon as you can. If you need longer to get a report, ask for more time rather than letting the deadline pass.
Ask about other supports now
NDIS partners help people find community and government services, even if they aren’t NDIS participants. Ask yours what’s available while you wait.
Start on your goals
If you’re accepted, your planning meeting will ask what you want to work towards. Our planning guide has questions to get you started.
Planning meeting guide →If the answer is yes
You become an NDIS participant on the day the NDIA decides you’re eligible. Your letter confirms that you’re eligible, whether you met the disability requirements, the early intervention requirements or both, and the date you became a participant.
The letter also lists your impairment categories. The law calls this a notice of impairment. It names the categories that cover the impairments you were accepted for, not your specific conditions.
Your partner becomes your my NDIS contact
Your NDIS partner becomes your my NDIS contact once you’re a participant.
A plan meeting with an NDIA planner
The NDIA aims to approve your first plan within 56 days of you becoming a participant, or 90 days for a child younger than 9. Call 1800 800 110 if you haven’t heard by then.
A plan implementation meeting
The NDIA offers this within 7 days of approving your plan, to help you start using it and find supports.
Understanding your plan →If the answer is no
You’ll get a letter explaining why. Call the NDIA on 1800 800 110 if you’d like them to explain the decision. If you still disagree, you have options.
Ask for an internal review
Ask within 3 months of receiving the decision: by phone, through the service hub, in person, by letter to the CEO of the NDIA, or on the request for a review of a decision form. The NDIA aims to finish internal reviews within 60 days.
Then the Administrative Review Tribunal
If you disagree with the internal review, you can apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal within 28 days of getting it. There’s no application fee for NDIA decisions. Phone 1800 228 333 or apply online.
Apply again
There’s no limit to the number of times you can apply. If your situation changes or you have new evidence, you can apply again. Your NDIS partner can also connect you with local services.
If the NDIA asks you for extra documents during a review, you have up to 28 days to send them, and you can ask for more time. The Tribunal can also help you arrange a free appointment with a Legal Aid lawyer. How to request a review, from the NDIA.
Changes to know about
New NDIS laws were passed in August 2026. For people applying now, three dates matter. From 1 October 2026, new plans have reduced budgets for social, economic and community participation supports and improved daily living skills supports, while essential day-to-day supports are not affected. From 1 April 2027, participants start moving to a new way of planning. And from 1 January 2028, new applicants will be assessed for access under new criteria based on functional capacity.
The NDIA says it will tell participants if a change affects them. See the official timeline.
Your while-you-wait checklist
A short list to keep on the fridge. The PDF prints it with tick boxes.
- Note the date you submitted your application
- Find the decision due date in the NDIA’s letter and write it down
- Respond to any request for more information, or ask for more time
- Keep a short daily diary of what was hard and who helped
- Ask your NDIS partner about community and government services now
- If accepted: read your letter and note your impairment categories
- If accepted: start writing your goals for the planning meeting
- If not accepted: call 1800 800 110 to have the decision explained
- If you disagree: ask for an internal review within 3 months
- After an internal review you disagree with: apply to the Tribunal within 28 days
Questions people ask
How long does the NDIA take to decide?
Once your application is complete, the NDIA’s guideline says it will decide within 90 days, and your letter gives the exact date. If it asks for more information, it has 14 days after you provide it.
What happens if the NDIA doesn’t decide in time?
The NDIA has to treat it as a decision that you’re not eligible, and it then automatically reviews that decision. You don’t need to do anything.
What is a notice of impairment?
It’s the part of your eligibility letter that lists your impairment categories: the categories covering the impairments you were accepted for. It doesn’t list your specific conditions.
How long until I get my first plan?
The NDIA aims to approve your first plan within 56 days of you becoming a participant, or within 90 days for a child younger than 9. Call 1800 800 110 if you haven’t heard by then.
How long do I have to ask for a review?
Ask for an internal review within 3 months of receiving the decision. If you disagree with the internal review, you have 28 days to apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal.
Does it cost anything to go to the Tribunal?
No. The Administrative Review Tribunal says there is no application fee to review a decision made by the NDIA.
Will the October 2026 budget changes affect my first plan?
They may. Budgets for social, economic and community participation and improved daily living skills supports are reduced for plans created from 1 October 2026. High intensity supports and essential day-to-day supports like help with eating, dressing and toileting are not affected.
When you’re ready to use your plan
Kinship is a registered NDIS provider (4-GWVHCEY) based in Colebee. We can’t speed up an NDIA decision or influence it. What we can do is be ready when your plan is: a short call to understand what you need, then the same support worker every visit, with updates to you and your family as standard.
If you’re waiting and want to understand what support could look like, call us and we’ll talk it through.
Daily living and personal care
Help at home with the routines that make a day work.
Daily living support →Community participation and life skills
Getting out, trying things and building skills, with the same worker every visit.
Community participation →High intensity support
Complex bowel care, catheter care, wound care, PEG feeding, medication management, dementia and behaviour support.
High intensity support →More plain-English guides
Each one has a free PDF you can print, save or send to family. Swipe to see them all.
How to apply for the NDIS
Who can apply, the evidence that counts and the five steps to lodge an application.
Read the guide →Preparing for your planning meeting
Goals, a typical week, informal supports and the questions worth asking.
Read the guide →Understanding your NDIS plan
Support budgets, flexible and stated funding, and the 2026–27 rule changes.
Read the guide →Changing your NDIS plan
Variations, reassessments, reviews and where complaints go.
Read the guide →Choosing an NDIS provider
What to ask, how to check registration and what a service agreement should cover.
Read the guide →Aged care help at home
How government-funded aged care at home works, starting with My Aged Care.
Read the guide →Continence support
Plain-English information on continence support and products.
Read the guide →Complaints and your rights
How to raise a concern with a provider, the NDIA or the NDIS Commission.
Read the guide →Looking after yourself as a carer
Practical ideas and where carers can find support of their own.
Read the guide →Sources
Every rule, timeframe and phone number on this page was checked against these official pages in October 2026. NDIS rules are changing under the Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Act 2026, and some ndis.gov.au pages are still being updated. If anything here differs from what the NDIA tells you, the NDIA’s advice for your situation wins.
- NDIS: How to apply (current as of 27 August 2026)
- NDIS: Applying to the NDIS guideline (PDF, 26 August 2026)
- NDIS: How to gather evidence
- NDIS: What is an NDIS partner
- NDIS: Guide to your first plan
- NDIS: How to request a review of a decision
- NDIS: What is a decision review
- Administrative Review Tribunal: NDIS decisions
- NDIS news: Changes to support budgets from 1 October (1 October 2026)
- NDIS news: New NDIS laws pass (19 August 2026)
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: Securing the NDIS for future generations timeline (updated 15 September 2026)
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: About the changes to the NDIS (updated 2 October 2026)
Waiting on a decision?
You don’t have to wait alone. Call us and we’ll talk through what happens next.
Registered NDIS provider 4-GWVHCEY. General information only — check ndis.gov.au for your situation. How to check any provider’s registration.