PARMAR v Minister for Immigration and Anor

This matter concerned an application for judicial review of a decision by the Migration Review Tribunal. The applicant, Mr. Parmar, sought review of a decision to refuse him a Medical Treatment (Visitor) (Class UB) subclass 602 visa. The central dispute was whether the Tribunal had erred by finding it lacked jurisdiction to entertain Mr. Parmar's application for review.

The court was required to determine whether Mr. Parmar's application for review was validly made in accordance with section 347 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and Regulation 4.13 of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth). Specifically, the court had to consider whether the Tribunal had correctly determined that it did not have jurisdiction due to the applicant's failure to pay the prescribed fee, or a reduced fee, within the required timeframe.

The court noted that section 347(1)(c) requires an application for review to be accompanied by the prescribed fee, unless a waiver or reduction is granted. Regulation 4.13 permits a reduction of the fee if severe financial hardship is demonstrated. Mr. Parmar applied for a fee reduction, which was granted on the basis of severe financial hardship, with a deadline of 3 November 2014 to pay the reduced amount. However, Mr. Parmar failed to pay the reduced fee by this date and did not provide further correspondence to the Tribunal despite being advised to do so. The court reasoned that the Tribunal's finding of no jurisdiction was based on the applicant's failure to comply with the conditions for a valid application, including the payment of the fee, even after a fee reduction was granted.

The application for judicial review was dismissed.