Australian Immigration Daily News

As my colleague Jerry Gomez has pointed out in his post in the Migration Alliance blog on 12 January 2016, there were a record 580 visa cancellations on character grounds in FY 2014 - 2015. 

The table that Jerry has included with his post reflects that some of the countries where the visa holders originally came from are places where there has been a history of war or civil or political conflict.  These countries include: Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Fiji and Vietnam. 

So, it is natural to wonder, when one looks at that table, how many of the people who had their visas cancelled on character grounds may have originally entered Australia as “refugees”.  

There are so many real benefits for a person who is present in Australia as a permanent resident to take the next step and seek Australian citizenship. 

One of the benefits – although one would think that it would be needed only by a very tiny percentage of people who are living in Australia – is that having citizenship effectively insulates a person from the possibility of having their visa cancelled on character grounds and being deported back to their country of origin. 

Of course, an Australian citizen could conceivably commit a crime of the worst imaginable description and the consequence would only be a prison sentence.  For the non-citizen who is here on a visa but wishes to remain, there is a “double sanction” – not only will they suffer whatever sanction the criminal justice sees fit to impose, but, after they finish their prison term, they will be ushered into the “delightful accommodations” that are provided in immigration detention and then “sent packing” to wherever it is they may have come from. 

Is there any real chance of successfully challenging a Ministerial decision to cancel a visa on character grounds? 

In view of the fact that there has been considerable attention in the media to cancellations involving people who have lived in Australia for long periods of time – for example, the article that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald over the weekend concerning the case of Ricardo Bolvaran, and the many reports about New Zealanders having their Special Category visas cancelled –this seems like a timely and natural question to ask. 

As I have mentioned in previous posts, cases involving visa cancellations on character grounds do seem to have been one of the principal “flavours of the past year”. Many of the cases that have come before the Federal Court have involved attempts to overturn Ministerial decisions to cancel visas. 

OK everyone, can we have a show of hands please? 

How many of you have a client, or a friend or acquaintance, who has been granted permanent residency and hasn’t bothered to get Australian citizenship? 

Speaking for myself, I can say: I do! The husband of my wife’s closest friend migrated to Australia from England as a child and has lived and worked here for decades, and he hasn’t gotten his Australian citizenship. 

I do not want to earn a reputation as “The Grinch That Stole Christmas”! 

And I do not want to cast a shadow over the upcoming festive season (for which I wish my devoted readers: “All the best”!!!!!) by this series of articles about partner visa applications that “did not work out”. 

It just so happens that some interesting cases in this area are showing up right now through the reports on Austlii. So, much as I would like to be in control of the docket of the Federal courts (wouldn’t all of you like to have another migrant-friendly judge on the Federal bench (vote for me!!)), the subject matter of the decisions that have been coming down is really not my fault – don’t blame me!