De Souza v Minister for Immigration

This matter concerned an application for review by Juliana Ferreira Regal Castro De Souza before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The applicant contended that the Tribunal had failed to hear her application. The central issue was whether the applicant had made a valid application for review in accordance with section 347 of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth).

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant's application for review was valid, given that she had paid only half of the prescribed fee and her subsequent application for a fee reduction was unsuccessful. Section 347 of the *Migration Act* mandates that an application for review must be in the approved form, lodged within the prescribed period, and accompanied by the prescribed fee. The applicant had paid $836.50 of the $1,673.00 fee.

The Tribunal reasoned that a valid application could only be made if the prescribed fee was paid. Following the unsuccessful fee reduction application, the Tribunal notified the applicant that the remaining fee was due by 18 November 2015, warning that failure to pay might result in the application being deemed invalid. When the remaining fee was not paid, the Tribunal invited the applicant to comment on the validity of her application, indicating that a member would ultimately decide whether a valid application had been made. The Tribunal's approach was to first determine if the application was valid before proceeding to hear the merits of the review.