CHN17 v Minister for Immigration and Anor (No.2)

The applicant, CHN17, sought a Bridging (class WE) visa after arriving in Australia on a student (temporary) (class TU) visa. The application for the bridging visa was refused. CHN17 subsequently filed a proceeding concerning this refusal. The respondents were the Minister for Immigration and another party. The proceeding was heard in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether it possessed jurisdiction to hear the application. Specifically, the court was required to determine if it had the power to review a decision made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal under section 500 of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth). A secondary issue concerned the potential transfer of the proceeding to the Federal Court of Australia, pursuant to section 39 of the *Federal Circuit Court of Australia Act 1999* (Cth) and rule 8.04 of the *Federal Circuit Court Rules 2011* (Cth).

His Honour Judge Wilson found that the Federal Circuit Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain an application for review of a decision made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal under section 500 of the *Migration Act*. The court determined that there was no basis to transfer the proceeding to the Federal Court, noting substantial obstacles to any such transfer.

Consequently, the application was dismissed.