Uvea and Minister for Home Affairs (Migration)

This matter concerned an application by Mr Uvea to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of a notification received from the Department of Home Affairs on 11 January 2018. Mr Uvea sought to challenge the mandatory cancellation of his visa, which had been notified to him on 11 January 2018. The Department had previously advised Mr Uvea that his initial letter seeking a revocation review was received out of time.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to review the Department's notification. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if the notification of 11 January 2018 constituted a "decision" within the meaning of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth), and if so, whether it was a decision that the Tribunal was empowered to review.

The Tribunal reasoned that the notification of 11 January 2018 was not a decision, but rather advice that no further action would be taken because Mr Uvea's application for revocation review was lodged out of time. The Tribunal clarified that its jurisdiction is limited to reviewing actual decisions made by a delegate of the Minister, such as a decision not to revoke a mandatory visa cancellation. In this instance, no such decision had been made because Mr Uvea's request was deemed out of time. Consequently, the Tribunal found that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the application, as there was no reviewable decision before it. The Tribunal also commented on the unique circumstances of inmates in custodial institutions regarding mail delivery, suggesting that the strict application of timeframes for lodging review applications may be problematic in such settings.