The reason I started AR LAW Services almost 20 years ago was to fight the good fight, to do some good – to stand up to bullies and try for a fairer world and this story sums that up to a great deal.
Recently I was approached to handle an Administrative Appeals case – it was an health case – a parent visa application.
The visa applicant was 87 and of very poor health and had failed the MOC health assessment and was thereby refused.
The migration agent who had managed the visa application and lodge the AAT appeal prior to AR LAW Services taking over, was hopelessly out of her depth and the file was not fit to argue.
Consequently AR LAW Services redrafted the submissions and took over the matter as if nothing had been done to that date.
But time was running against us because the migration agent appears to have frozen in panic and failed to manage the appeal – basically she just buried her head in the sand and hoped it would all go away.
(At this point I would suggest go to a lawyer not a migration agent – obviously I think you should come to AR LAW Services but go to a lawyer at least)
Back to the story at hand….
It is hard to contemplate the mind of the case officer who thought it was a good idea to “deport” a very old grandmother who suffered dementia and whose entire family and support network is here in Australia, but that is exactly the case at hand.
Given the migration agent had done nothing for the AAT appeal except seek an adjournment by the time AR LAW Services was retained the AAT was set to hand down their decision and where reluctant to grant any more time.
So now faced with departing Australia to die is a foreign country or appealing to the Federal Court with all its attending great costs and continued uncertainty.
It was in this great storm and the tension of a family being ripped apart that I decided to use the MOC (the government chief medical officer) own report – the report that lead to my client refusal against DIBP and for my clients advantage.
I was able to basically put to the department that “you believe my client is so sick, well I say she is too sick to travel”.
(I also put the secondary arguments about family etc.)
And with that, she was able to stay in Australia.
My client was 87 at the time – during the AAT appeal my own mother die, she too was 87.
So if you or someone you know has had a visa cancelled or refused for health or character grounds (s116 or 501) either by the department or the AAT or Federal Circuit Court talk to us.
Call 03 9614 0218 or email info@arlaw.com.au to make an initial 30 Minute consultation at our Melbourne office. (conditions apply)
For more go to www.arlaw.com.au
Note: this update, or any previous updates on this page, do not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Please call our office to seek professional advice before acting or relying on any of the content on this page
