Successful Outcomes

We have helped thousands of migrants in the past 30 years to resettle or remain in Australia. The secret to success is knowing the law, knowing how the system works, integrity and tenacity.

These are some recent success stories.

Alleged bogus document

Applicants for offshore refugee visas received a letter from a Senior Migration Officer at the Australian Embassy in Amman in October 2019, saying they had lodged a bogus criminal record check. They were advised a Department of Immigration document examiner had found the document was not genuine, having checked with the relevant authorities who issued the document. This is a serious allegation under the Migration Act. In most visa applications, lodging a bogus document leads to a visa refusal and a potential 3 or 10-year ban from being granted another visa. It may also lead to a visa being refused on character grounds.

After engaging us as their lawyer, we asked the Principal Migration Officer at the overseas post to conduct a proper investigation, based on our instructions and that the document had been authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the country where issued. He agreed to investigate.

Within two weeks, we were advised by the Principal Migration Officer that the allegation of a bogus document had been withdrawn because, after a proper investigation, the document was found to be genuine. The processing continued and the visas were granted in February 2020.

When is a decision not a decision?

The High Court case of Bhardwaj says that a decision affected by a legal error is not a "decision" under the Migration Act 1958 and the visa application has not been finalised. It has to be an error of law, not a disagreement on the facts or about the weight given to each piece of evidence.

Case 1. A client's offshore spouse visa application was refused in September 2019. The decision-maker at the High Commission in Ottawa applied the wrong law to reject the application.

The usual options are either to appeal to the AAT or lodge a new application. The AAT appeal fee is $1,787 and takes 1-2+ years. A new visa application costs $7,715 for the application fee plus legal fees and other costs and takes about 6 months in Canada.

Neither are pleasant options. But we used a little known third option and convinced the Department to vacate the decision, as if it had never been made, because the decision applied the wrong law. The processing continued, more documents were requested and the visa was granted in November 2019.

Case 2. The Department refused a parent visa application in November 2019. The application had been lodged in Janaury 2010 and sitting in the queue.

The decision-maker failed to provide natural justice, applied the wrong legal test and did not identify the criteria for the refusal.

The Parent Visa Centre in Perth agreed to vacate the decision and the visa application processing continued. The visa was granted in August 2020. With current appeal times, if an appeal had been lodged instead, it would have taken until late 2022 for the visa to granted.

The Department will not vacate a decision if an AAT appeal is already lodged. This means requesting and obtaining a response within the timeframe to appeal, in case the Department refuses to vacate the decision and the client is forced to appeal.

Case 3. A Senior Migration Officer at the Australian Embassy in Amman refused to grant an offshore refugee visa in January 2020. However, the SMO failed to follow the required natural justice process; and made a decision based on a fact which did not exist.

The SMO's natural justice letter failed to meet the requirements of s.57(2) of the Migration Act. Further, the SMO made a factual finding which was wrong.

After consulting the Legal Branch in Canberra, the Principal Migration Officer at the Embassy agreed to vacate the decision and processing continued.

If the Department had not vacated the decision, the only appeal option was in the Federal Circuit Court. Again, an expensive and potentially lengthy process which is something to be avoided, if possible.

Never give up on Ministerial cases

A client who had been here 23 years without a visa had come to the end of her options and the next step from the Department was to say, "Show Me The Departure Ticket!".

We lodged a request to the Minister asking that he grant a visa under his Migration Act 1958 powers. The request was screened out after 3 weeks by an officer in the Department and never got near the Minister.

A new request for this elderly lady was made in August 2018, but this time with the support of their family's then State MP for Goulburn, the Hon Pru Goward (she was her staff were great), and other senior public figures who understood the case and were willing to help. The local Federal MP refused to help or meet with his constituents, the close family members (who were all citizens) who lived with the elderly lady, because his office explained, "He does not help people he does not know".

Obtaining the assistance of The Hon Pru Goward and other senior public figures brought the case to the attention of the Minister. The Minister intervened to grant a visa in December 2018, which allowed the elderly lady to continue living here with her children and grandchildren.

Sabean Mandaeans from Iraq in Jordan, Syria and Turkey

Between November 2015 and June 2016, Principal Lawyer Simon Jeans spent several months in New Zarqa, Jordan and lodged offshore refugee visa applications at the Australian Embassy in Amman. It was during the start of the government's special visa programme for 12,000 Iraqis and Syrians. All the cases were scheduled for an interview. Some arrived here after 3 months, while a few are still waiting for an interview or visa grant. He is returning to Jordan in April 2020 to assist lodge more applications.

Almost all the cases were Sabean Mandaeans, a non-Islamic minority in Iraq who have been the victims of a genocide since March 2003. Only a few thousand remain in Iraq, down from about 70,000 in 2003. The leaders in Iraq claim there are 10,000 left.

The largest concentration of Sabeans Mandaeans in the world is now in Sydney, estimated at 12,000. They are located around Liverpool because they need to be close to flowing rivers for baptism ceremonies.

Federal Circuit Court win

A client wanted to apply for an onshore spouse visa but was stopped by a 'No Further Stay" 8503 condition from their first visa. They asked the Department to waive the condition to allow the spouse visa application to be lodged. The client had been a victim of crime with an assessed "whole person impairment" of 37%. Plus a few other things which were all compelling and compassionate.

The Department said "No". Three times.

An appeal to the Federal Circuit Court was successful in January 2019. The decision was riddled with legal errors and could not be defended by the Minister's solicitors. They conceded and had to pay over $3,500 in costs. The case was sent back to the Department and this time, after 6 months of deliberating, they got it right.

Former permanent residents

Case 1: A client who had previously held a permanent visa was in Australia on a visitor visa. He had been preparing to lodge a spouse visa application, with an application fee of over $7,000 and taking 3-4 years to finalise.

We established that as a former resident, he met the criteria for a resident return visa, which is a permanent residence visa.

We lodged the application and he was granted the permanent visa after 6 weeks, saving him thousands of dollars and years of processing had he lodged the spouse visa application.

Case 2: An Iranian woman's permanent visa had lapsed, but she thought it was still valid because of wrong advice from a registered migration agent. They had told her that her resident return visa lasted 5 years, but it was only 1 year. Thinking she had a 5-year visa, she travelled overseas for more than 1 year. When she went to board a plane at Kuala Lumpur for Sydney, she was refused permission because she did not hold a visa. We obtained a new resident return visa for her within 4 weeks and she returned to Australia.

Working Holiday

We assisted two German citizens lodge and be granted Subclass 417 Working Holiday visas. They were interested in obtaining the 2nd visa, which requires 3 months' work in a regional or bushfire affected area. What is "regional area", "bushfire affected area", "bushfire recovery work" and the other types of work are set out in Migration (LIN 20/103: Subclass 417 (Working Holiday) Visa—Regional Australia and Specified Work) Instrument 2020, 4 March 2020.