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A Cautionary Tale for RMAs from the Federal Circuit Court – Make Sure that the Contact Details Provided on a 956 Form Are Current and Correct!
A recent decision of the Federal Circuit Court re-enforces that it is critically important that Registered Migration Agents provide correct contact details for themselves on 956 forms that are lodged with the Department. The case also again emphasizes (not that any further emphasis is needed!) that the deadlines for filing an appeal with the MRT against the refusal of a visa application will be strictly and inflexibly enforced.
The story of this case – Lutchanah v Minister for Immigration & Anor (2015) FCCA 550 (26 March 2015) – can only evoke the strongest feelings of sympathy for the visa applicant. It is apparent from the factual history, as recounted in the Court’s judgment, that the applicant would almost surely have obtained the visa in question (a subclass 485 visa) if only emails from the Department which sought further evidence in support of the application had been brought to her attention by the migration firm that she used. Likewise, it seems apparent from the decision that the applicant would have filed a timely appeal to the MRT had she been made aware that her visa application had been refused, and that her appeal would very likely have been successful.
Instead, the visa applicant was left in the unfortunate circumstance of “being left out in the cold”: rather than securing a 485 visa allowing her to remain in Australia to work following the conclusion of her studies, it appears that the applicant will be forced to go offshore and to follow a pathway for either independent or sponsored skilled migration. The applicant’s prospects for returning to Australia are therefore now uncertain, and, at the least, the commencement of her working life in Australia has been significantly postponed.
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