This proceeding concerned an alleged fraud committed against a visa applicant by her migration agent during the visa application process. The Federal Circuit Court had dismissed the appellants’ application for a declaration that, by reason of the fraud committed against the first appellant, the visa application was invalid because it found that the appellants were “indifferent” to the fraud committed by their migration agent. The Full Federal Court (Murphy, Mortimer and O’Callaghan JJ) allowed an appeal from the Federal Circuit Court’s decision on the ground that factual findings made by the Federal Circuit Court judge were not open on the evidence before him. The Full Court also found that, if the findings made by the Federal Circuit Court judge were open to him, those findings were insufficient to establish “fraud” in a public law context.
