Ahmed v Minister for Immigration

Ahmed (the applicant) sought judicial review of a decision by the Migration Review Tribunal (the Tribunal) to affirm the refusal of his student visa application. The Minister for Immigration (the respondent) was the opposing party. The dispute concerned the lawfulness of the Tribunal's decision.

The primary legal issues before the court were whether the Tribunal's decision was affected by jurisdictional error. This involved two distinct grounds: first, whether the Tribunal had misapplied clause 573.235 of the *Migration Regulations 1994* (Cth) in its assessment of the applicant's eligibility for the student visa; and second, whether the Tribunal had failed to consider or determine an argument that clause 573.235 was invalid due to inconsistency with section 137P of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth).

Justice Cameron found that the Tribunal had not engaged with the applicant's submission regarding the invalidity of clause 573.235. By failing to consider this argument, which went to the validity of the regulation it was applying, the Tribunal had failed to exercise its jurisdiction according to law. This failure constituted jurisdictional error. The court did not determine the merits of the invalidity argument itself, but rather the Tribunal's failure to address it.