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Immigration Daily News ‘Thousands of visa applicants affected by High Court ruling’Australian Immigration Daily News
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‘Thousands of visa applicants affected by High Court ruling’
Supposedly, thousands of visa decisions have been brought into question by a High Court ruling that found the government is responsible for, and cannot defer the making of, intervention decisions for denied visa applicants the request of the minister for immigration to review their decisions.
On Wednesday, 12 April, a majority of the High Court of Australia ruled in favour of two appellants in the appeal of Davis v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs & Ors; DCM20 v Secretary of Department of Home Affairs & Anor.
The case saw two appellants lodge an appeal due to being unable to have their visa refusals overturned, which they claimed was due to a Home Affairs department policy made in 2016, which stated that the immigration minister has a role of personally overriding a decision in “unique or exceptional circumstances”.
The override power allows the minister to substitute a more favourable decision, even if the administrative tribunal would not have had the power to make such a decision.
The minister is not required to consider whether to exercise the override power, and he did not do so in either of the two cases that were heard, as the department chose not to refer the requests to the minister for consideration.
The case was brought by UK citizen Martin Davis, who has lived in Australia since 1997, who lost the right to live in Australia after his working visa was cancelled due to ceasing employment with his sponsoring employer.
Source: Lawyers Weekly article>
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