Judicial review relating to subclass 820/801 onshore partner visa which was lodged in 2018 by the client’s former agent and was refused by Home Affairs. The refusal was affirmed by an AAT decision. We took on the case soon after AAT decision. Despite our two requests to AAT to vacate its decision which infected by jurisdictional errors, AAT refused to reopen the review case. Our team successfully challenged the AAT decision in the Federal Circuit Court as the Tribunal failed to take account of cogent evidence. we also successfully secured a cost order against the Minister.
This is our second recent win in judicial review of partner visa refusals. Interestingly, both cases involved parties who were in genuine spousal relationship, and both were assessed as not genuine by Home Affairs and by the AAT. These cases remind us again that detailed documentary evidence to address all aspects of a spouse relationship must be submitted with the initial application, and clients need to be well prepared to give detailed evidence during tribunal hearing. Merely believing or stating that your relationship is genuine is simply not enough to obtain a partner visa.
Reported by [email protected]