Rupasinghe Karunarathna (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for review by Rupasinghe Karunarathna concerning a refusal decision for a Student (Temporary) (Class TU) visa, subclass 500. The applicant sought review of the visa refusal, citing their grandmother's health and their genuine wish to study as reasons for the delay in lodging the application.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed the jurisdiction to consider the application for review, given that it was lodged outside the prescribed time limit. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if any discretion existed under the relevant legislation to extend the time for making an application for review in these circumstances.

Member Jason Cabarrús reasoned that the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and associated regulations prescribe strict timeframes for lodging applications for review with the AAT. In this instance, the prescribed period for lodging the application expired on 10 July 2024, but the Tribunal did not receive the application until 22 July 2024. As the application was not made within the statutory timeframe, the Tribunal concluded that it lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter. No discretion to extend time was available under the governing legislation for this type of application.

The Tribunal ordered that it does not have jurisdiction in this matter.