Grey (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for review by an applicant concerning the cancellation of their Special Category (Temporary) (Class TY) visa, Subclass 444. The central dispute revolved around the applicant's failure to pay the required tribunal fees by the stipulated deadline.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to hear the applicant's review application, given the non-payment of the prescribed fee within the statutory timeframe. The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicant's failure to meet this fee requirement rendered their application invalid and, consequently, divested the Tribunal of its power to proceed.

The Tribunal reasoned that the payment of the prescribed fee by the specified date was a mandatory jurisdictional prerequisite for lodging a valid application for review. It noted that there was no discretion available to waive this legislatively prescribed requirement. As the applicant had not paid 50% of the prescribed fee before the expiry of the prescribed period, the Tribunal concluded that the application for review was not valid and therefore it lacked jurisdiction to consider the matter. The Tribunal made no orders as it found it had no jurisdiction.