A recent decision of the Federal Court highlights that unfair visa cancellations can be fought in the courts on grounds of unreasonableness.
In Eden v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Justice Logan, sitting in Brisbane, overturned (or “quashed”) a personal decision of the Assistant Minister for Immigration to cancel the visa of Mr Eden, an Iranian-born New Zealand citizen who had been living in Australia for many years.
Although Mr Eden had committed an offence in 2009, for which he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years, the Minister only got around to cancelling his visa this year. Mr Eden only found out when Immigration Department officers turned up at his house in the early hours of the morning to take him into detention, and was only given the written decision the following day.
Because of the delay, a failure to consider the objective seriousness of Mr Eden’s offending, and the way in which the Minister conveyed her decision, Justice Logan was satisfied that the decision was unreasonable and therefore unlawful. The Court accordingly overturned Mr Eden’s visa cancellation and ordered that he be released from immigration detention forthwith.
