Shubha v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs

1. The name of the first respondent be changed to "Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs".
2. The appeal be dismissed.
3. The first and second appellants pay the first respondent's costs as assessed or agreed. Note: Entry of orders is dealt with in Rule 39.32 of the Federal Court Rules 2011.

BROMWICH J: 1 This is an appeal from orders made by a judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, now Division 2 of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, dismissing an application for judicial review of a decision of the second respondent, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The Tribunal affirmed a decision of a delegate of the first respondent, now known as the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, to refuse the grant of Skilled (Residence) (Class VB) visas to the appellants. 2 The first appellant, Mr Mehedi Hasan Shubha, was the primary visa applicant. The second and third appellants are his wife and child, respectively. At first instance, the first and second appellants' younger child was listed as a fourth applicant, however he was removed following observations the was not a party to the Tribunal's decision. 3 The reason for the Tribunal's affirmation of the delegate's refusal of the visas was that an indispensable criterion for the grant of the visas, namely Mr Shubha passing an English language test to a stipulated level of proficiency in the two years before the visa application was made was not met, because the only identified test result identified by him was just outside of the necessary two-year period and below the required level in all four components of speaking, reading, writing and listening. Mr Shubha's response was that he was misled by his migration agent and thought that his test results were sufficient. In these circumstances, it is obvious that the visas were never going to be granted, and that there was no error, let alone jurisdictional error in refusing to grant them. 4 The appellants are citizens of Bangladesh. On 9 November 2011, Mr Shubha applied for the visas. The second appellant was included in this application as a member of the family unit, and the third appellant was added to the application as a member of the family unit after his birth, in 2014. Mr Shubha is the only active participant in the proceeding. 5 The relevant visa requirements are set out in Pt 886 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth). In particular, cl 886.213 required Mr Shubha to have competent English. Regulation 1.15C provided that a person has competent English if the person: (a) satisfies the Minister that: (i) the person undertook a language test, specified by the Minister in writing for this subparagraph; and (ii) the test was conducted in the 2 years immediately before the day on which the application was made; and (iii) the person achieved a score specified in the instrument; or (b) satisfies the Minister that the person holds a passport of a type specified by the Minister in an instrument in writing for this paragraph. 6 Mr Shubha did not hold a specified type of passport, so had to meet the criteria in reg 1.15C(a). The relevant instrument was called IMMI 15.005. That instrument required Mr Shuba to achieve an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of at least 6 in each of the four test components of speaking, reading, writing and listening. The Tribunal at [10] of its reasons stated: At the hearing the Tribunal discussed with the applicant the requirements of cl.886.213 and r.1.15C. The applicant acknowledged that he does not have evidence of competent English. He indicated that he had undertaken an IELTS test on 23 July 2009 but scored only 5 for listening, 5.5 for reading, 5.5 for writing and 5.5 for speaking. As IMMI 15/005 requires the applicant to score at least 6 in each of the test components of speaking, reading, writing and listening, the applicant's IELTS test results do not meet the definition of competent English. He indicated he had no other evidence on which to rely. 7 The primary judge summarised what had taken place before the Tribunal at [10]-[14] of the primary judgement (PJ). I incorporate that summary by reference, without reproducing it, because only a portion is directly challenged on this appeal. 8 The chapeau to the grounds of appeal states: 1. The Court below erred in finding that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AA T) failed in its duty to provide procedural fairness to the applicant. 2. When we applied to the Federal Circuit Court, we did in a rush and could not provide sufficient details and particularised our grounds. I am an unrepresented applicant and request the honourable courts to grant leave to raise a news ground in the interest of justice. I respectfully request the honourable court to accept ground 4 and 5 which was not presented during the Federal Circuit Court. 9 Five grounds of appeal then follow: Ground 1: I was misled by the Migration Agent. Ground 2: I have three different results with the same qualification. Ground 3: I do not think this is a fair judgement to me and my family. Ground 4: The decision of the Tribunal is unreasonable. Particulars The Tribunal failed to grant me reasonable time to provide my English Exam Proficiency. I note that I need to satisfy the English Language Proficiency at the time of the decision and therefore, I requested the Tribunal to provide reasonable period. The Tribunal failed to provide reasonable period to provide my English result and decided the matter which I submit is not reasonable. Ground 5: The Tribunal failed to provide me adequate procedural fairness and natural justice opportunity. Particulars The tribunal failed to provide time frame to provide English result and failed to advise before it took the decision that it intended to take decision and to request the English result before a particular period of time.