Australian Immigration Daily News

Not so fast!

Readers of this blog will recall my recent article commenting on the nightmarish visa ban that was imposed in America through Trump's Executive Order (currently being litigated in the Federal Court system in the US), as well as my suggestion that: "It won't happen in Australia". 

Well, it sure seems like I may have spoken too soon!

Suppose you have a client who has made an application for a Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa, Subclass 188 under the Significant Investor Stream (wouldn’t all RMAs like to have such clients!)?

Suppose further that the application has been refused at first instance by the Department and then an application for merits review has been made to the Tribunal.

Suppose yet further that at the hearing the Tribunal raises an issue as to whether the applicant has yet made the “complying investment”. 

Under what circumstances can the Tribunal decline to consider a claim of family violence?

Ever or never?

That’s a timely question and an important one for RMAs who work with partner visa applications.

Is there anything you can do if your client has a student visa cancelled at the airport (in other words, while in immigration clearance) and is then taken into immigration pending immediate removal from Australia?

This is obviously a timely question given how much coverage there has been in the news media about people being detained at airports on the United States thanks to the Executive Order that was signed by the Grand Orange Bogeyman who now occupies the White House.

And it’s not a totally unheard of situation. There was a case with this situation that came before the Federal Courts last year. And there was a case like this in Australia right before Christmas last year, Kaur v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2016) FCA 3289 (22 December 2016).

Is it at all possible for things to get any crazier than we've seen in the last news cycle?

First we had reports that the "delightful" Trump had raised significant questions about whether the United States would abide by the agreement that was made between the Turnbull Government and the Obama Administration to resettle the asylum seekers who have been held in detention on Manus Island and Nauru.

According to news reports Trump apparently, in his inimitable style, threw a "temper tantrum" when Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull apparently tried to seek assurances about whether the Trump regime would abide by the agreement. The reports indicate that Trump ended a call that was supposed to last for an hour after 25 minutes (reading between the lines it seems perfectly obvious that in accordance with well established protocols of diplomacy between close allies, Trump hung up the phone on the Prime Minister).