Australian Immigration Daily News

What types of circumstances will be considered “compelling reasons” for not applying the criteria of Schedule 3, and thereby enabling an applicant for a Partner visa to remain onshore while the application is being processed?

This question is of more than passing interest, as of course it is not at all uncommon for a person who no longer holds a substantive visa to apply for a Partner visa more than 28 days after the prior substantive visa ceased.  In fact, it is a common occurrence that Partner visa applications will be made by applicants many years after their visas have expired, isn’t it?

So a case that was recently decided by the Federal Circuit Court, Prempree v Minister for Immigration & Anor (2017) FCCA (17 February 2017) provides some useful guidance to the question, and identifies some circumstances that may not amount to “compelling reasons” for the grant of a “waiver” of Schedule 3 criteria.

How many bites of the apple can you get?

Or, in terms of migration law, how many opportunities can you get to lodge a student visa application on-shore in Australia if you have allowed your previous student visa to expire?

And what if there are compassionate circumstances that prevented you from applying for a new student visa before the one you already hold has ceased? If you can show compassionate circumstances, can you get more bites at the apple?

Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) published report with recent migration numbers for FY 15/16. 

The report indicates that a staggering 7.7 million temporary visas were granted to foreign nationals.  Close to 2 million temporary visitors were New Zealand nationals travelling on Special Category 444 visa. Detailed breakdown of each visa subclass is below:

Today’s article is essential  reading for anyone who acts, either as a migration agent or a lawyer, for a person who has had her/his visa cancelled on character grounds.

As we have seen, the Minister has been very actively exercising the “personal” powers vested in him under the Migration Act to cancel visas on character grounds, or to refuse to revoke the cancellation of visas on character grounds.

And as we have also seen, it is extremely difficult to challenge a cancellation decision made on character grounds in Federal Court.  There is no “merits review” of cancellation decisions made personally by the Minister – merits review is only available when a cancellation decision is made by a delegate of the Minister, and is only available in the AAT.

The following information has been received by email from the Australian Embassy in Manila:

SCAM ALERT

The Embassy is aware of a hoax/scam suggesting that visa-free options for Filipino nationals will be available from January 2017. This is a scam and potential travelers to Australia must have a valid Australian visa. Australia maintains a universal visa regime. This means Filipino passport holders must have a visa, as a result of a visa application, regardless of the length of travel. If you intend to travel to Australia for any length of time, please see the Embassy website for information on how to apply for an Australian visa: