Haider v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor

The High Court of Australia heard an application for an order to show cause brought by a Pakistani national against the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The applicant sought to compel the Tribunal to reconsider its decision of 9 February 2015, which affirmed the Minister's delegate's refusal of his Student (Temporary) (Class TU) visa application. The Tribunal had found that the applicant had spent over two years in Australia without evidence of course completion and had a significant study gap, leading it to conclude he was not a genuine applicant but was abusing the student visa program to remain in Australia.

The legal issues before the High Court concerned the applicant's prior unsuccessful attempts to challenge the Tribunal's decision. The applicant had applied for judicial review in the Federal Circuit Court, but failed to appear at the hearing, resulting in the dismissal of his application. Subsequently, he sought an extension of time to appeal this dismissal in the Federal Court, which was also refused on the basis that an appeal would have no prospect of success, given the Tribunal's decision was largely a credibility assessment and a value judgment reasonably open to it. The applicant's grounds for seeking the order to show cause in the High Court alleged errors in the Federal Court's conclusion regarding his eligibility for a student visa and argued for the exercise of ministerial discretion under section 351 of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), which had also been refused.

The High Court reasoned that the applicant's application for an order to show cause was misconceived. It found that the dismissal of his judicial review application by the Federal Circuit Court was appropriate due to his failure to appear. Similarly, the Federal Court's refusal to extend time for an appeal was justified, particularly as an appeal was considered futile. The Court found no intelligible basis for the relief claimed in the applicant's grounds, nor any reason to doubt the correctness of the Tribunal's original decision. Consequently, the application was dismissed.