Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v Li

In *Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v Li*, the plaintiff, Mr Li, applied for a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) Subclass 485 visa, which required him to demonstrate "competent English". Mr Li indicated on his application that he had competent English and provided a reference number for a language test. However, the results of this initial test did not meet the required standard. He subsequently took a second test that did meet the standard, but these results were not provided to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. A departmental officer accessed the results of the first test using the provided reference number, and the visa application was refused on the grounds that Mr Li had not satisfied the competent English criterion. The matter came before Kiefel J of the High Court of Australia.

The central legal issues before the Court were whether the results of the first language test were provided by Mr Li "for the purpose of the application", whether those results constituted "relevant information" for the purposes of section 57(1) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), and whether the Tribunal had breached section 57(2) of the *Migration Act*.

Kiefel J reasoned that the phrase "for the purpose of the application" in section 57(1) of the *Migration Act* referred to information that the applicant intended to be used by the Department in assessing their application. By providing the reference number for the first test, Mr Li had indicated that this test was relevant to his claim of competent English, and therefore it was provided for the purpose of the application. Consequently, the first test results were "relevant information" under section 57(1). The Court found that the departmental officer was entitled to access and consider these results. The application was dismissed with costs.