Laopaoher (Migration)

The applicant, Laopaoher, sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs. The dispute concerned the validity of a Visitor (Class FA) visa, Subclass 600, which had been granted to the applicant. The core of the disagreement lay in the alleged non-payment of a prescribed fee associated with the visa application. The matter came before the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether it possessed jurisdiction to entertain the applicant's claim, given the Minister's assertion that the visa had been granted without the payment of the requisite fee. This raised the question of whether a visa granted in such circumstances could be considered a validly granted visa for the purposes of judicial review, or if the non-payment of the fee rendered the grant a nullity, thereby precluding jurisdiction.

Her Honour Nora Lamont found that the non-payment of a prescribed fee for a visa application is a fundamental defect that goes to the validity of the visa grant itself. The Court applied the principle that a visa cannot be validly granted if a mandatory fee has not been paid. Consequently, the Court determined that it lacked jurisdiction to review the decision because there was no validly granted visa to consider. The Court reasoned that the Minister's decision to grant the visa, despite the non-payment of the fee, was a nullity, and therefore, the applicant had no legal standing to seek judicial review of a non-existent or invalid decision.

The Court ordered that the application for judicial review be dismissed for want of jurisdiction.