Al Titi v Minister for Immigration

This matter concerned an application for judicial review brought by the applicant, Al Titi, against the Minister for Immigration. The applicant sought to challenge a decision by the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) which found it lacked jurisdiction to review the refusal of his Partner (Temporary) visa application. The MRT had determined that the applicant's application for review was lodged outside the prescribed time limit.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the MRT had correctly determined that it lacked jurisdiction due to the late lodgement of the applicant's review application. This required the Court to consider the interplay between section 347(1)(b) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and regulation 4.10(1)(a) of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth), specifically in relation to the prescribed time for lodging an application for review and the deemed date of notification of the delegate's decision.

The Court examined section 347(1)(b)(i) of the Act, which sets a maximum period of 28 days after notification for lodging an application for review, and regulation 4.10(1)(a) of the Regulations, which prescribes a shorter period of 21 days. The Court noted that the Act authorises regulations to prescribe shorter periods. Crucially, the Court considered section 494C(5) of the Act, which deems a document transmitted by email to have been received by the recipient at the end of the day on which it was transmitted. Applying these provisions, the Court found that the delegate's decision was notified by email on 19 June 2015, and therefore, the applicant was deemed to have received the notification on that date. Consequently, the 21-day period for lodging an application for review expired on 10 July 2015. As the applicant lodged his application on 11 July 2015, the MRT correctly found that it did not have jurisdiction.