Nacksan (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for review concerning a Bridging E (Class WE) visa, subclass 050. The applicant sought to challenge a decision, but the prescribed fee for the application had not been paid, nor had any request been made for a fee reduction.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to hear the application for review, given the non-payment of the prescribed fee. The Tribunal was required to determine if the application, lacking this essential component, constituted a valid application capable of attracting the Tribunal's jurisdiction.

The Tribunal reasoned that the payment of the prescribed fee is a mandatory requirement for lodging a valid application for review. As the prescribed period for lodging the review application had passed and the fee remained unpaid, the application was deemed invalid. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that it lacked the necessary jurisdiction to proceed with the matter. The Tribunal therefore made no order other than to state that it did not have jurisdiction.