Australian Immigration Daily News

That is a really good question, isn't it!!

Why not, indeed!

After all, if you have been trying to follow developments in the law concerning the AAT filing deadline over the past year, you might be suffering from a bad case of ""whiplash": it has been harder than watching a fast-paced tennis match: back and forth, back and forth!

The deadline for filing an application for merits review has long been the bane of applicants’, and migration agents’ existence, hasn’t it?

It has long been considered “settled law” that the filing deadline is absolutely rigid and inflexible, and cannot be extended no matter how compelling the circumstances may be, or however good the explanation may be for the applicant’s failure to file the application for merits review “on time”.

That is why there was at least temporary cause for excitement, optimism and possibility when a decision was handed down in November 2018 by Justice Greenwood of the Federal Court, in the case of Brown v Minister for Home Affairs (No. 2) (2018) FCA 1787 that the filing deadline was not, in fact, inflexible and that it could indeed be extended. 

I am pleased and excited to announce that my newsletter, the Migration Messenger, has launched and is now available for subscription.

The newsletter will be providing the same kind of detailed, careful analysis of migration court cases that has previously been generously sponsored by Migration Alliance, and that have been appearing on the MA Website for the last several years.

The Migration Messenger can be found simply by clicking here on the words Migration Messenger or alternatively by simply entering the words "migrationmessenger.com" into your browser. To subscribe to the newsletter, simply click on the words "Subscribe to Migration Messenger" and follow the prompts.

Suppose you have a situation where a client is seeking an employer-sponsored skilled visa, but the employer’s nomination of the client has been refused.

Can the applicant “switch” sponsoring employers while relying on the same visa application?

And does the AAT have an obligation to grant a visa applicant an opportunity to find a new sponsoring employer, or to allow the original sponsor to file a new nomination associated with the visa application?

Do you think Australia’s immigration legislation can produce outcomes that are brutal, harsh and unfair?

If you are not persuaded yet, or even if I am “preaching to the choir”, check this one out, a decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court handed down today, 25 June 2019, Russell v Minister for Home Affairs (2019) FCAFC 110.

The case involved an application for judicial review of a decision of the AAT that it did not have jurisdiction to hear an application for merits review of a decision not to revoke the cancellation of a visa held by a citizen of New Zealand.