This article covers some risk management basics for migration lawyers and provides a brief case study of a claim.
At the 2017 LPLC Risk Management Intensive a practitioner mentioned how difficult it was for practitioners to keep up with the constant changes to our immigration system. The same can probably be said for all areas of law.
The practitioner also commented that the system is complicated because there are now over 100 types of visas.
According to the list of visas on the Department of Immigration and Border Protection website there are 120 visas.
Given this number, it is probably no surprise that claims have arisen where a practitioner has applied for the wrong visa.
Claims have also arisen where applications were made for visas which had no chance of success or a time period was missed.
In one claim a practitioner was acting for a husband and wife seeking a permanent residence visa on the basis that the wife was a skilled worker holding post-secondary school qualifications.
The application was unsuccessful and the clients were informed of the right to appeal within the specified time period.
The practitioner miscalculated the time to appeal and the application was filed out of time. Fortunately for the client the practitioner successfully obtained a bridging visa but a claim was made for the additional cost of obtaining it.
As set out in the LPLC practice risk guide Know your limits, one of the key risk management lessons to avoid limitation period claims is to always double-check the relevant legislation to ascertain the applicable time limit.
The guide also contains a number of other risk management lessons and relevant limitation periods pursuant to the Migration Act 1958 (Cwlth) including in section 347.
