Australian Immigration Daily News

What do you do next when your client wishes to sponsor a visa holder on the new TSS visa, however they don't meet one or a number of nomination or visa requirements under a SBS? Now with the new TSS stream coming in mid-March it gets even messier. 

That's when you turn your attention to the possible option of a TSS compliant Labour Agreement. 

This OMARA approved activity (WK261) is an exclusive 4 hour CPD/CLE event in our Labour Agreement Workshop Series presented by Alan Chanesman, one of Australia's most recognised and distinguished migration law experts and educators in this very specialised field. 

In yesterday’s article, concerning the decision of the Federal Court in Ogama v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, I noted that it surely appears that the Department has an ongoing “cottage industry” involving the cancellation of visas on character grounds.

Well, when you read the case reports from the Federal Courts on Austlii, it looks like there is more than a “cottage industry”! The visa cancellations on character grounds are being churned out by the Department at a rapid rate, it seems at times as quickly as Apple is churning out iPhones!

And, as the recent case of Burgess  v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2018)FCA 69 (12 February 2018)  illustrates, it seems that a particular target of the visa cancellation “compliance programme” is visa holders who have had involvement with “outlaw motorcycle gangs”.

There are  some cases that sure have “wacky facts”, and also have unexpected outcomes!

Here’s a case in point:  the decision of Justice Logan in Ogawa v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2018) FCA 62.

Let’s start here: how would you rate the chances of a person avoiding visa refusal if she had the following background and history, as the visa applicant did in Ogawa:

Does it matter if an applicant for a partner visa‘s motives for entering into a marriage are primarily to get a visa to remain in Australia?

If an applicant’s motives are primarily to get a visa, does that mean that other evidence demonstrating that the applicant is in a genuine spousal relationship can be disregarded?

These important questions were considered in a decision that was handed down last week by Justice Driver of the Federal Circuit Court, Mahmoud v Minister for Immigration & Anor (2018) FCCA 54 (8 February 2018).