Decisions made by personally by a Minister administering the Migration Act 1958 or on review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal can be reviewed by a Court in an application for judicial review. Most of these decisions, except for character-related decisions made under s 501 of the Migration Act, can be reviewed by the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.
It is vitally important to understand that a Court will not decide whether the preferable decision was made in your matter. The Court can only decide if the decision made was lawful. Because of this, the Court generally can’t accept any new evidence or set aside a decision simply because it disagrees with the Minister’s (or the AAT’s) decision in your case. Whether a visa-related decision was lawful is a complex issue and the great majority of applications for judicial review are dismissed.
However, our firm does act in judicial review applications to both the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and the Federal Court of Australia if we consider that an application has reasonable prospects of success. If we offer to act on your behalf, it will be on an at least partially no-win, no-fee basis and our fees will be limited to the amount payable by the Minister in respect of your legal costs.
We also act in appeals from decisions of the Federal Circuit Court to the Federal Court of Australia. If we think you have sufficient prospects of success, we will also offer to act on an at least partially a no-win, no-fee basis.
If you are considering applying or appealing to the Federal Circuit Court or Federal Court of Australia, book in a free consultation with our firm. At that consultation we will provide you with advice on your prospects of success and let you know whether we can offer to act on your behalf.