Nguyen (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for review concerning a Distinguished Talent (Migrant) (Class AL) visa, Subclass 124. The applicants, who were not in the migration zone at the time of the primary decision or when the application for review was made, sought to challenge the decision. The application for review was lodged by the nominator of the applicants.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to hear the application for review. This required determining whether the application had been properly made in accordance with the relevant legislative provisions, specifically concerning the location of the subject of the decision at the time of the primary decision and the application for review, and the standing of the nominator to make such an application.

The Tribunal reasoned that the legislative amendments governing applications for review stipulated that the subject of the decision must be within the migration zone at both the time of the primary decision and the time the application for review is made. As the applicants were outside Australia at these critical junctures, and the nominator lacked the requisite standing to initiate the review process, the Tribunal concluded that the application was not properly made under section 347 of the relevant Act. Consequently, the Tribunal found it lacked jurisdiction to determine the matter.