Rajbhandari v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (No 2)

In the matter of Rajbhandari v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (No 2), the applicants sought judicial review of a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the Tribunal) to dismiss their application for review of a decision by a delegate to refuse to grant them student visas. The applicants, who had been in Australia for over 16 years, applied for a fourth student visa so the first applicant could undertake a Bachelor of Business. The delegate refused the application, finding that the first applicant did not genuinely intend to stay in Australia temporarily as a full-time student. The applicants applied for review of the delegate's decision, but did not attend the hearing, resulting in the Tribunal dismissing the review application. The applicants did not apply for reinstatement within the required period. They later sought judicial review of the Tribunal's decision to dismiss their application, but filed the application out of time.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the applicants' application for judicial review, filed out of time, should be allowed to proceed. The applicants argued that there were exceptional circumstances justifying the late filing of their application. The court needed to determine whether the circumstances were indeed exceptional and whether the applicants' failure to attend the hearing was excusable.

The court found that the applicants' failure to attend the hearing was not excusable, and there were no exceptional circumstances justifying the late filing of the judicial review application. The court held that the applicants had ample time to file their application within the required period, and that their failure to do so was due to their own inaction. The court dismissed the application for judicial review, finding that the Tribunal's decision to dismiss the review application was correct.

The court dismissed the applicants' application for judicial review and made no orders as to costs.