Chen v Migration Agents Registration Authority (No 2)

The case of Chen v Migration Agents Registration Authority (No 2) involved an appeal by the applicant against a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which dismissed his review application. The primary issue was whether the applicant met the requirements to be registered as a migration agent under sections 289A and 290(1)(a) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). Specifically, the question was whether substantial compliance with the English language proficiency requirement was sufficient.

The Federal Court found that the applicant did not satisfy the statutory requirements for registration. The Court held that the statutory language was clear, and that compliance with the English language proficiency requirement needed to be exact, not merely substantial. The Court further noted that the applicant's criminal conviction rendered him unfit to be a migration agent under section 290(1)(a) of the Act. Additionally, the Court dismissed the belated objection to the applicant's competency on the basis that no question of law was properly identified.

As a result of the Court's findings, the appeal was dismissed, and the applicant was ordered to pay the costs of the appeal. The Court concluded that there was no appealable error in the AAT's decision and that the application had no reasonable prospect of success.