Rhee (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an appeal by Mr. Yeoup Rhee against the cancellation of his Partner (Residence) (Class BS) Subclass 801 visa. The dispute centred on whether Mr. Rhee had provided incorrect information and used a false identity during his visa application process, leading to the cancellation of his visa.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the notice of intention to consider cancellation issued under section 107 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) contained sufficient particulars to enable Mr. Rhee to identify and address the issues, and whether the delegate had reached the necessary state of mind to engage section 107. The Tribunal also had to determine if there was non-compliance with the Act as particularised in the section 107 notice, specifically concerning the provision of false or misleading information in his Partner visa application, and if so, whether the visa should be cancelled.

The Tribunal found that the notice of intention to consider cancellation complied with statutory requirements and that the delegate had properly engaged section 107. It detailed Mr. Rhee's extensive immigration history, including periods of unlawful status and the use of a false identity ("Ken Lee") to enter and remain in Australia on multiple occasions between 1996 and 2011. The Tribunal noted that in his 2011 Partner visa application, Mr. Rhee answered "no" to a question about whether he had ever had a visa cancelled, failed to disclose other names he had been known by, and declared the information supplied to be complete and correct, despite his history. The Tribunal concluded that this constituted non-compliance as described in the section 107 notice.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision to cancel Mr. Rhee's Subclass 801 visa, finding that, having regard to all the relevant circumstances, the visa should be cancelled.