Paul Cutler's Migration Case Law Blog

Prescribed fee

An application to the AAT has to be accompanied by the prescribed fee pursuant to section 347(1)(c) of the Migration Act. Despite my initial view "how hard can it be?" there have been at least two cases on this topic this year! Fee reduction application In the first case, Hanna v Minister [2023] FCA 604, the Applicant applied for a fee reduction at the time application was lodged. No actual fee...

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National Interest

The Minister has to be satisfied that: "the grant of the visa is in the national interest" (clause 790.227 of Schedule 2 of the Migration Regulations) before granting a Safe Haven Enterprise visa In ENT19 v Minister [2023] HCA 18 the applicant was an Iranian gentleman who had been convicted of people smuggling (section 233C Migration Act). He was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Notwithstanding...

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Irrelevant Consideration

Was it an irrelevant consideration to take into account juvenile offending when deciding to revoke a character cancellation decision? In Minister v Thornton [2023] HCA 17, a majority of the High Court found that it was. Mr Thornton came to Australia from the UK as a 3 year old. By the time he had turned 16, he had been found guilty of a number of offences (including assault/obstruct police...

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Giving of documents

The giving of documents to a visa holder which relate to the cancellation of their visa is more complex than it might seem. Basically the options are by giving notice under section 494A (using one of the methods in s 494B) which then enliven the deeming provisions in s 494C. The other alternative is rely on regulation 2.55(3)(c) and the deeming in reg 2.55(7). There are some subtleties in the...

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New Direction 99: Visa refusal and cancellation under s 501

A new Ministerial Direction No 99 (visa refusal and cancellation under section 501 and revocation of a mandatory cancellation of a visa) commenced on 3 March 2023. This Direction replaces Direction 90. Under the old Direction 90 the strength, nature and duration of ties to Australia were considered under other considerations, under this new Direction 99 this has now been added as a primary...

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