Liu v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection

Liu was an applicant for a partner visa who appealed against a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) that dismissed his application. The issue in the appeal was whether the AAT failed to consider a claim and whether there were compelling reasons to waive the criteria set out in Schedule 3 of the Migration Regulations 1994. The court had to determine whether the AAT correctly found that Liu did not satisfy the relevant criteria and whether there were compelling reasons to waive those criteria.

The court found that the AAT had correctly identified the relevant criteria and applied them to the facts of the case. The court also found that the AAT had considered the issue of whether there were compelling reasons to waive the criteria and had correctly found that there were none. The court held that the term “compelling reasons” was not defined, but it could include circumstances where there was an Australian citizen child or a long-standing relationship between the applicant and the sponsor at the time of the application. The court found that neither of these circumstances was apparent on the evidence before the AAT.

The appeal was dismissed, and Liu was ordered to pay the costs of the respondent. The name of the second respondent was changed to “Administrative Appeals Tribunal.”