Bhupendra and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for review of a non-revocation decision under section 501CA(4) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). The applicant, Bhupendra, sought to challenge a decision made by the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. The core of the dispute revolved around whether the applicant had filed his application for review within the prescribed time limits.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether there was power to extend the time for the making of an application for review, given that the applicant had filed his application significantly out of time. The applicant contended that prevailing circumstances, specifically medical ministrations and a misunderstanding about the flexibility of the deadline, prevented him from meeting the nine-day temporal requirement. The respondent argued that the applicant had been deemed to have received the adverse decision on 11 April 2022, making the deadline for filing the application 20 April 2022, which the applicant failed to meet by filing on 17 August 2022.

The Tribunal found that section 500(6B) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) imposed an absolute time limit for the making of such applications and expressly displaced the Tribunal's capacity to extend that time. The Tribunal reasoned that the applicant's claimed medical circumstances, even if contemporaneous with the deadline, did not override this statutory compulsion. Furthermore, the applicant's belief that the Tribunal could grant an extension was misconceived, as the operative effect of section 500(6B) precluded any such lawful implementation. Consequently, the Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to entertain the application.

The application was dismissed pursuant to section 42A(4) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) due to the fundamental absence of jurisdiction.