Australian Immigration Daily News

What if the Department has refused your client’s application for a partner visa, and the Tribunal has in turn affirmed the refusal.

Suppose the evidence in support of the genuineness of the spousal relationship between your client and his sponsor is also pretty “thin”?

For example, what if your client and the sponsor had only known each other for 2 months before they married, had met with each other  on only six or seven separate occasions before the wedding, and the marriage took place shortly before the applicant’s student visa was due to expire?

Does anyone out there doubt that the visa cancellation powers under the Migration Act can be exercised by the Department/Minister a way that is harsh and oppressive?

If you are not yet convinced that this is the case, there is another prime example from a case that was decided by the Full Court of the Federal Court in late December – Parker v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2016) FCAFC 185 (20 December 2016).

Readers of this blog may recall the factual background of this case from our article about the decision made by the Federal Court in Parker v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2016) FCA 938.

Suppose your client has applied unsuccessfully for a visa.

Suppose further that your client has sought review of the Department’s decision before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, and then, before the client has been notified of the hearing, has obtained a Bridging Visa B and has gone overseas. 

And suppose that while the client is overseas, the Tribunal finally issues notice of a hearing.

The following information has just been received from the DIBP:

Hi Education and Migration Agents, 

Welcome to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s first Student Visa Programme newsletter the ‘Agent Digest’. We will use the Agent Digest to communicate updates for the Student Visa Programme and on areas where the Department is noticing issues that may have the potential to delay processing times. 

Would anyone (especially anyone like me who has suffered a computer “melt-down”) argue with the proposition that:  “The Internet is wonderful until it is not!”?

Likewise, we could say that the ability to apply for a visa through the Department’s on-line systems is a fantastic convenience both for applicants and the Department.

Until it is not!