Yang v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection

The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia considered an application for review of a decision by the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) concerning the refusal of a business visa. The applicant, Mr. Yang, sought to challenge the MRT's determination that he did not satisfy the criteria for the visa.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the MRT had erred in its interpretation and application of the "main business" criterion under the relevant visa provisions. Specifically, the Court had to determine if the MRT was entitled to consider more than two businesses when assessing which business constituted Mr. Yang's "main business" for the purposes of the visa application.

Judge Driver reasoned that the MRT's approach of considering multiple businesses was permissible under the Migration Regulations. The Court held that the term "main business" did not inherently limit the number of businesses that could be considered. Instead, the MRT was entitled to examine all businesses in which the applicant had an interest to determine which one was the primary or principal business. The Court found no error in the MRT's factual findings or its application of the law to those findings, concluding that the Tribunal had correctly applied the "main business" criterion.