Australian Immigration Daily News

The legal framework of the Migration Act surrounding the cancellation of the visas of persons who are owed protection obligations by Australia and who therefore cannot be returned to their countries of origin consistently with Australia’s international treaty obligations under the Refugees Convention  is a complicated, convoluted, messed up mess!

That this is so was illustrated by a case that was handed down yesterday, 3 May 2017, by Acting Chief Justice North of the Federal Court of Australia in the case of DMH16 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2017) FCA 448.

This was the background of the case:

Suppose you have a client who is seeking a further student visa to remain in Australia to pursue further studies.

Suppose also that the student visa application has been refused by the Department, and the Tribunal has affirmed the refusal of the visa application on the basis that the Tribunal is not satisfied that “the applicant intends genuinely to stay in Australia”.

Does that outcome necessarily mean that all hope is lost for the applicant, that the case is over, and that you need to tell the applicant that it is time to pack her bags and prepare to return to her home country?

Under what circumstances can an applicant lose the right to appear at a hearing before the Tribunal?

Does a failure to give information, comments or response to a written invitation from the Tribunal within the time period specified by the Tribunal always result in the forfeiture of the right to a hearing?

This very important question concerning the procedural rights of applicants before the Tribunal was “re-visited” last week in a case that was decided by the Full Court of the Federal Court, Singh v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2017) FCAFC 67 (27 April 2017).

The Migration Alliance has received a report about a bizarre, strange, astounding and insane situation from one of our colleagues!

Here’s the story:

A person who was charged with a criminal offence, and who out on bail and awaiting sentence in about a month’s time, approached our colleagues for advice and assistance.