Print a Portal Pty Ltd v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs

Print a Portal Pty Ltd (the Applicant) sought judicial review of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the Tribunal) which affirmed a delegate's refusal to approve a nomination for a Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme visa (Subclass 187). The nomination was for the position of Graphic Pre-Press Trades Worker, with Ms Lovepreet Kaur as the proposed nominee. The delegate had refused the nomination on the basis that the Applicant failed to demonstrate it had the financial capacity to pay Ms Kaur a full-time salary and superannuation for at least two years, thus not satisfying regulation 5.19(4)(d)(i) of the Regulations.

The legal issues before the Court were twofold: firstly, whether the Applicant's application for review was competent, given it was commenced by the company director rather than a lawyer, contrary to rule 9.04 of the Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001; and secondly, whether the Court should exercise its power under section 477(2) of the Migration Act 1958 to extend the time for filing the application, which had been lodged more than 35 days after the Tribunal's decision. The Minister contended that the application was incompetent and out of time.

Blake J reasoned that while two factors weighed in favour of granting an extension of time, these were outweighed by the merits of the substantive claim. His Honour found that the proposed grounds of review were not reasonably arguable and did not have reasonable prospects of success, describing them as attempts to challenge factual findings and invite a merits review. Applying the principle that it is seldom in the interests of the administration of justice to grant leave where an appeal has little or no prospects of success, Blake J concluded that leave to extend time should be refused.

Consequently, the application for review was dismissed. The Minister was awarded costs in the amount of $3,373.