Visa Cancellations and Delays

 

As a result of a concerted and ongoing campaign by the Department of Immigration to cancel visas of persons it believes to be serious criminal offenders, there is now a very large backlog of persons in immigration detention awaiting news of their ultimate fate.

 

Once a visa is cancelled by the Department there is in most cases a right to seek a revocation of that decision, and because of the large numbers of cancellations that have been made there is a correspondingly large number of revocations being sought with the result that significant delays in processing are being experienced.

 

A recent report in The Age newspaper (10 January 2017) indicated that the number of people deported from Australia because of serious criminal convictions has increased more than tenfold since 2014 – with a huge spike in the number of New Zealanders being sent home.

 

The same report indicated that the Commonwealth Ombudsman has recently concluded an investigation into the treatment of persons who have had their visas cancelled and found serious delays in deciding revocation requests meant former prisoners were spending long periods in the above in immigration detention. Not surprisingly, a spokesman for the Minister said the government made no apologies for strengthening deportation laws to ‘further protect the Australian community’.

 

When making a revocation request to the Department it is necessary to carefully consider what information will be included. Issues such as whether there are children or other family members in Australia whose interests will be affected need to be carefully canvassed and focused submissions need to be prepared in a clear and cogent way.

 

While it seems that there will be no relief in terms of delays in processing, persons seeking revocation of a cancellation know that they will have ample time in which to prepare proper submissions and should use this time to their best advantage.