Australian Immigration Daily News

Do you think you have seen and heard it all?

Well, sometimes when you read through the decisions of the Federal Courts, you can find something that is amazingly, astonishingly, insanely bad.

Are you ready for this one?

I have just learned from colleagues about an excellent result they achieved in the Federal Court.

Their client was granted a visa - a SHEV -  by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (!!).

Evidently he was continuing to be held in detention notwithstanding the visa grant decision of the AAT.

I know everyone out there is very understandably extremely concerned about the novel corona virus and its impacts on our ability to carry on work and normal day to day activities!! 

To all who read this, I wish you to stay well!!!

Amidst the cascade of scary news, I did want to bring to everyone's attention an important new decision from the Full Court, handed down yesterday that showed up today on the Federal Court's Website, Babar v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (2020) FCAFC 38 (12 March 2020).

Even though almost no one is traveling right now due to the novel corona virus, it is still worthwhile to know about a recent decision of the Federal Circuit Court that relates to false answers on an outgoing passenger card: Dalla v Minister for Home Affairs & Anor (2020) FCCA 454 (3 March 2020).

We have seen from previous cases that giving an incorrect answer on an incoming passenger card - for example, failure to disclose a history of criminal convictions - can lead to visa cancellation.

The decision in Dalla takes this a step further: in this case, it was held that giving a false answer on an outgoing card, in this case, concerning the amount of Australian currency that was being taken out of the country - will also be considered a contravention of section 102 of the Migration Act (which requires that the information provided on a passenger card be accurate) and will therefore support cancellation under section 109.

We have now reached a full blown, break the glass, emergency when it comes to last minute visa applications!!

Late yesterday, we received judgment in Cabrera v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs [2020] FCA 129 (17 February 2020).

Essentially, this decision affirms the decision of the Federal Circuit Court in this same case, discussed in the article I posted late yesterday afternoon: