Alueth (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered a migration matter involving an applicant seeking review of a decision concerning a Partner (Provisional) (Class UF) visa, Subclass 309. The central dispute revolved around the timeliness of the applicant's review application.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to hear the review application, given that it was lodged after the prescribed time limit. This required the Tribunal to determine the date on which the applicant was deemed to have been notified of the original decision and, consequently, the expiry date of the period within which a valid review application could be filed.

The Tribunal applied section 494C of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), which deems notification of a decision to have occurred on a specific date. In this instance, the Tribunal found that the applicant was taken to have been notified on 29 May 2017, establishing 7 August 2017 as the final date for lodging a review application. As the application was received on 8 August 2017, it was deemed out of time.

Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the review application was not made in accordance with the relevant legislative requirements, and therefore, the Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to consider the matter.