On 24 March 2022, the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia made orders allowing my client’s appeal (application for judicial review) against the decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to refuse to grant him and his family student visas. The Minister conceded the appeal, accepting that the decision had involved a denial of procedural fairness to my clients.

My clients had been required by the Minister to demonstrate that they had the financial capacity to support themselves in Australia during the First Applicant’s period of study. In order to do this, my clients produced bank statements showing sums of money that added up to over $60,000.00. The AAT refused my clients’ application as it considered that they did not have genuine access to some of that money.

It was the AAT’s finding about genuine access which we successfully challenged on appeal. In essence, the AAT reasoned that because some of the bank accounts were in the names of businesses, and because there was no information about the constitutions or financial positions of those businesses before it, that it couldn’t be satisfied that my clients had genuine access to the money within those accounts.

This was actually a fair point, the problem was that the AAT did not alert my clients to this reasoning prior to making its decision. The point was not obvious and my clients were self represented, they did not appreciate prior to the decision that this would be held against them. Had the AAT told them about its reasoning, my clients would have had an opportunity to address the AAT’s concerns by further evidence, an opportunity that they were denied.

We were successful in Court and my clients now get another opportunity to argue their case before the AAT. If you or someone you know needs to appeal a student visa decision, please don’t hesitate to reach out.