Direction No. 80

Direction 80 – order for considering and disposing of Family visa applications under s47 and 51 of the Migration Act 1958

Direction No. 80, which should be read with Direction No. 83, commenced on 21 Dec 2018 and includes the following provisions (emphasis added):

8. Order for considering and disposing of Family visa applications

(1) Subject to section 9, paragraphs (a) to (g) set out the order of priority for considering and disposing of Family visa applications, with paragraph (a) being the highest priority and paragraph (g) being the lowest priority.

(a) Applications where the Minister has exercised powers of intervention under sections 351 and 417 of the Act, in the order that those powers have been exercised.

(b) Except where paragraph (g) applies to the application, applications (including combined applications) made on the basis of the primary applicant being the spouse, de facto partner, prospective spouse or dependent child of a sponsor (or proposed sponsor).

(c) Except where paragraph (g) applies to the application, applications (including combined applications) made on the basis of the primary applicant being the orphan relative of the sponsor (or proposed sponsor).

(d) Except where paragraph (g) applies to the application, applications for Contributory Parent (Class CA and UT) visas and Contributory Aged Parent (Class DG and UU) visas.

(e) Except where paragraph (g) applies to the application, applications (including combined applications) made on the basis of the primary applicant being a carer.

(f) Except where paragraph (g) applies to the application, applications for Parent (Class AX) visas; Aged Parent (Class BP) visas; and applications (including combined applications) made on the basis of the primary applicant being a remaining relative or an aged dependent relative.

(g) Applications in which the applicant’s sponsor (or proposed sponsor) is a person who entered Australia as an Illegal Maritime Arrival and holds a permanent visa.

Notes:

Section 51(2) of the Act provides that the fact that an application has not been considered or finalised when an application made at a later date has been considered or finalised, does not mean that the earlier application is unreasonably delayed.

9. Exceptions

Notwithstanding sections 7 and 8, when deciding the order for considering and disposing of Family visa applications, a delegate is to depart from the order of priority set out in section 8 in the case of a particular application if:

(a) the applicant has satisfied the delegate that:

(i) the application involves special circumstances of a compassionate nature; and

(ii) there are compelling reasons to depart from the order of priority set out in section 8, having regard to the special circumstances identified in paragraph 9(a)(i) and to any other matters that the delegate considers relevant.


Disclaimer: the above is a mere reproduction of a direction. The views there expressed might not reflect the views of the Department, the AAT or the courts. The law or policies might have changed between the writing and reading of this article. The author of this article and Migration Law Updates disclaim any liability for any action (or omission) on their part based on any information provided (or not provided) in this article and are under no obligation to keep the general public nor practitioners informed about the matters discussed in this article or any other matters, or any future changes to any of those matters. It is the responsibility of each practitioner to obtain access to primary sources of law and policy by themselves and to carry out their own research and come to their own conclusions on legislation, case law, policies and more. This article is not intended for the general public.


Sergio Zanotti Stagliorio is a Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1461003). He is the owner of Target Migration in Sydney. He can be reached at sergio@targetmigration.com.au

Previous articleSA calls for DAMA
Next articleDirection No. 83