Kaur v Minister for Immigration

The applicant, Ms Kaur, sought judicial review of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which found it lacked jurisdiction to review a delegate's decision to refuse her a medical treatment visa. Ms Kaur had applied for the visa on 14 June 2016, stating she suffered from depression due to her husband's condition and required psychological treatment. The delegate refused the visa on 27 June 2016. Ms Kaur applied to the AAT for merits review on 7 July 2016, paying half the prescribed fee and requesting a fee reduction, which was refused due to insufficient evidence of her financial position. She was given a further two weeks to pay the full fee, but failed to do so, leading the AAT to conclude on 1 September 2016 that her application for merits review was invalid due to non-payment of the fee within the prescribed period, as per s 347(1)(c) of the relevant Act.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether to grant Ms Kaur an extension of time to file her application for judicial review. This required the court to consider whether her explanation for the delay was satisfactory and whether her application had sufficient prospects of success to warrant an extension in the interests of justice. Ms Kaur's grounds for judicial review included an assertion that the Tribunal wrongly assumed she had received its letter refusing a fee waiver, rendering its decision unlawful.

Emmett J found that the Tribunal's correspondence with Ms Kaur was in accordance with the statutory scheme. The Court Book indicated that Ms Kaur had provided an Australian postal address and email for correspondence. The Tribunal was therefore entitled to correspond with her at that address. Furthermore, Ms Kaur offered no explanation for her delay in filing the application for judicial review, nor did she provide any material to support her grounds of review. Consequently, the court determined that the application for an extension of time should be refused.

The application for an extension of time to file the application for judicial review was refused.