Munir and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (Migration)

This matter concerned an application by Mr Munir, a citizen of Pakistan, for review of a decision to cancel his visa. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs was the respondent. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to determine whether it had jurisdiction to hear Mr Munir's application, which turned on whether he had been notified of the visa cancellation decision in accordance with the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and whether his subsequent application for review had been lodged within the prescribed time limit.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the notice of visa cancellation complied with the requirements of section 501G(1) of the *Migration Act* and whether it was given in the prescribed manner. Crucially, the Tribunal had to determine if Mr Munir's application for review was lodged within the nine-day time limit stipulated by section 500(6B) of the Act, which displaces the general 28-day period for lodging review applications under the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth). The Tribunal also considered whether there was any discretion to extend this time limit.

The Tribunal reasoned that the notice of cancellation, sent by email to Mr Munir's authorised recipient at the last provided email address, constituted notification in accordance with the Act. Section 494B of the *Migration Act* permits notification via electronic means to the last provided electronic address. Consequently, Mr Munir was taken to have received the notice at the end of 15 January 2020. As his application for review was not lodged until 23 April 2020, it was significantly out of time. The Tribunal affirmed that section 500(6B) of the Act provides no discretion to extend the time for lodging such an application.

Accordingly, the Tribunal found that it did not have jurisdiction to consider Mr Munir's application and dismissed it under section 42A(4) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act*.