CHG15 v Minister for Immigration and Anor (No.2)

The applicant, CHG15, sought judicial review of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which affirmed the refusal of a medical treatment visa. The AAT had found the applicant ineligible because their visa application was not lodged within the prescribed time period. The grounds of review raised by the applicant primarily addressed the merits of the AAT's decision.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the AAT had committed jurisdictional error by failing to address all visa criteria mentioned in a concession statement made by the Minister in prior judicial review proceedings. The applicant contended that the AAT's decision was flawed because it did not consider every criterion outlined in that concession statement.

Judge Driver held that the AAT had not committed jurisdictional error. The court reasoned that the AAT's finding that the application was out of time was a threshold issue that rendered the other visa criteria, including those referred to in the Minister's concession statement, irrelevant to the determination of eligibility. The AAT was not obliged to consider criteria that were not engaged due to the applicant's failure to meet the primary time requirement for the application. The application for judicial review was therefore dismissed.