Matthews (Migration)

The applicant sought review of a decision to refuse a Subclass 444 (Special Category) visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to determine whether the applicant's application for review was lodged within the prescribed time limit.

The central legal issue was whether the applicant had been validly notified of the decision to refuse the visa, and consequently, when the time for lodging a review application commenced. This involved an interpretation of the relevant regulations concerning notification of decisions to authorised recipients.

The Tribunal found that, pursuant to regulation 2.55 of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth), the applicant was taken to have been notified of the decision on 6 April 2017. This established that the prescribed period for lodging a review application expired on 27 April 2017. As the application for review was not received by the Tribunal until 25 August 2017, it was lodged out of time.

Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the merits of the application for review.