FYQV and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (Migration)

The applicant, FYQV, sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. The dispute concerned the validity of the assessment of FYQV's protection visa application, which had been refused. The refusal decision was made on the same day as the decision not to revoke the mandatory cancellation of FYQV's Class XB Subclass 202 Global Special Humanitarian visa. However, notification of these decisions was provided to FYQV on consecutive days. The core of the dispute revolved around a statement for the purposes of section 36A of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) which was marked as ‘DRAFT’.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether FYQV's protection visa application had been assessed in accordance with section 36A of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). This section pertains to the circumstances in which a protection visa application may be made and assessed, particularly in light of other visa statuses or decisions. The Tribunal's focus was on the procedural integrity of the assessment process, specifically whether the 'DRAFT' status of the section 36A statement rendered the assessment invalid.

The Tribunal found that the protection visa application had not been assessed in accordance with section 36A of the Act. The reasoning was that the statement required by section 36A was marked as ‘DRAFT’, indicating it was not a final or properly completed document for the purposes of the assessment. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the decision under review was flawed. The Tribunal set aside the decision and remitted the matter back to the Department for reconsideration, providing specific directions for that reconsideration.