Ibrahimi and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (Citizenship)

This matter concerned an application for citizenship by conferral by the Applicant, Mr. Ibrahimi, who is an Afghan citizen. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs refused the application, and this decision was affirmed by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The Applicant sought review of the Tribunal's decision.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the Tribunal had erred in finding that it was not satisfied that the Applicant was of good character, as required by section 21(2)(h) of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth). This assessment of good character was complicated by discrepancies in the Applicant's previous statements to the Department regarding his family composition, specifically concerning a child named M.

The court considered the Applicant's explanations for the inconsistent information provided about M, including claims that a housemate had incorrectly listed M as his biological child on an early visa application, and that a migration agent had used this information for a subsequent application. The Applicant also conceded that he had made a "wrong decision" during his journey to Australia to list M as his child, believing it to be a good deed, and later, out of fear, failed to correct the information. Crucially, the Applicant admitted that M was not his biological child or relative, nor was he legally or culturally his adoptive father. The Tribunal found that the Applicant had provided misleading information on multiple occasions and that it could not be satisfied of his good character.

The decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was affirmed. The court noted that this did not preclude the Applicant from making a fresh application for citizenship in the future, provided he could demonstrate a period of demonstrated regard for honesty in his dealings with the Commonwealth.