Singh v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor

The applicant, Mr. G. Singh, sought orders of certiorari and mandamus from the High Court of Australia. Mr. Singh sought to quash a judgment of the Federal Court of Australia, which had refused him an extension of time and leave to appeal a decision of the Federal Circuit Court. The Federal Circuit Court had previously refused to set aside a notice of discontinuance of Mr. Singh's application for judicial review of a Migration Review Tribunal decision. This Tribunal decision had affirmed the Minister's delegate's decision to cancel Mr. Singh's Student (Subclass 572) visa. Mr. Singh also sought to compel the Minister to revoke the visa cancellation. The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection was the first respondent.

The legal issues before the High Court concerned whether the Federal Court had erred in refusing Mr. Singh an extension of time and leave to appeal, and whether the Federal Circuit Court had erred in refusing to set aside the notice of discontinuance of his judicial review application. Central to these issues was whether Mr. Singh had an arguable case for judicial review of the visa cancellation decision, particularly in light of his failure to attend the Migration Review Tribunal hearing and his lack of current enrolment or offer of enrolment in a registered course.

The High Court considered that Mr. Singh's application was devoid of merit. It noted that the Federal Circuit Court had found that Mr. Singh did not have an arguable case because he was not enrolled in a course, had no offer of enrolment, and provided no indication of when he might re-enrol. The Federal Court had found no error in this reasoning. Furthermore, the High Court observed that Mr. Singh's explanation for not attending the Tribunal hearing, based on miscommunication with a migration agent, was new, uncorroborated, and did not address his ongoing lack of enrolment.

The application for an order to show cause was dismissed with costs.