Shekhar v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs

In the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, Judge Street considered an application by Mr. Shekhar against the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs. The dispute concerned a Regional Employer Nomination visa and the applicant's assertion that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) had made jurisdictional errors.

The court was required to determine whether the applicant had raised an arguable case of jurisdictional error by the AAT. Specifically, the applicant alleged that the AAT had taken into account irrelevant considerations, misconducted facts, overlooked or mistaken facts, made decisions on limited information, and failed to follow procedural rules, including not calling him for an interview.

Judge Street reasoned that the applicant's grounds for appeal lacked sufficient particulars to establish an arguable case of relevant error. The court found that no irrelevant considerations or misconstructions of fact were identified. Regarding the applicant's failure to satisfy visa requirements, the court noted that the applicant had lost the right to appear before the Tribunal by failing to respond to a section 359 of the Act letter within the stipulated time. Consequently, the applicant had not satisfied an essential criterion for the visa, namely an approved nomination. The court also found that it lacked the power to review the delegate's decision and that the Tribunal was not obliged to call the applicant for an interview when he had failed to respond to the section 359 letter.

As the court was not satisfied that the application had raised an arguable case for the relief claimed, the application was dismissed under rule 44.12 of the Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001 (Cth). The applicant was also ordered to pay the first respondent's costs.