Grovogui and Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (Citizenship)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the application of Mrs Anne Marie Grovogui, a citizen of the Republic of Guinea and a permanent resident of Australia, for Australian citizenship by conferral. Mrs Grovogui's application had been refused by a delegate of the Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship because she had not met the mandatory requirement of successfully completing the Australian citizenship test, despite having had reasonable opportunities to do so. Mrs Grovogui sought a review of this decision, but her application to the Tribunal was lodged 102 days out of time, and she also requested an extension of time.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether to grant an extension of time for Mrs Grovogui to lodge her application for review, and, in substance, whether the refusal of her citizenship application was justified. In relation to the extension of time, the Tribunal was required to consider whether it was reasonable in all the circumstances to grant such an extension, pursuant to section 29(7) of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975. This involved assessing the reasons for the delay and the potential prejudice to the parties.

The Tribunal reasoned that while there would be no substantial prejudice to the Minister in granting an extension of time, the applicant's substantive case for citizenship was unlikely to succeed. The Tribunal referred to *Minister for Home Affairs v Zadeh (No 2) [2018] FCA 1828*, which established that the obligation to determine citizenship applications under section 24 of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 could be frustrated by allowing applicants to indefinitely re-sit the citizenship test. The Tribunal found that Mrs Grovogui had had multiple opportunities to sit the test, attending on three occasions and attempting it only once during each visit. Given her poor command of English, as candidly acknowledged by her lay advocate, the Tribunal had no confidence that a different outcome would result from further attempts.

Consequently, the Tribunal declined to exercise its discretion under section 29(7) of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 to extend the time for Mrs Grovogui to lodge her application for review.