LAW (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered a review application concerning a Student (Temporary) (Class TU) visa, Subclass 500. The applicant sought review of a decision, but the Tribunal was required to determine whether this application was lodged within the prescribed time limits.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to hear the applicant's review application, given that it was lodged after the expiry of the statutory time period. This required the Tribunal to ascertain the date on which the applicant was deemed to have been notified of the original decision.

The Tribunal applied section 494C of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), which deems notification of a decision to have occurred on a specific date. In this instance, the Tribunal found that the applicant was taken to have been notified on 4 September 2018. Consequently, the prescribed period for lodging a review application expired on 25 September 2018. As the application was received by the Tribunal on 30 September 2018, it was out of time.

The Tribunal concluded that the review application was not made in accordance with the relevant legislative requirements, and therefore, the Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to consider the merits of the application.