FANG v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, Fang, sought judicial review of a decision made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) concerning an application for a Partner (Temporary) (Class UK) visa. The Minister for Immigration was the respondent. The core of the dispute revolved around the AAT's assessment of the genuineness of the relationship between the applicant and their partner, which was a crucial factor in the visa application.

The primary legal issues before the court were whether the AAT had erred in finding that the relationship between the parties was determinative of the question of its genuineness, whether the Tribunal had made contradictory findings, and whether its decision was unreasonable and lacked intelligible or evident justification. The applicant also sought leave to amend their application to introduce three new grounds of review.

Justice Smith found no jurisdictional error in the AAT's decision. The court reasoned that the Tribunal's findings, while potentially open to criticism, did not amount to a jurisdictional error. The judge granted leave to amend the application to rely on the three new grounds. However, after considering the amended application, the court ultimately dismissed the application for judicial review.