Thousands of Australian visa decisions may be affected by high court ruling, experts warn

The high court’s decision has ‘far-reaching consequences’ for the administration of the minister’s personal powers across the board,’ human rights advocate Sanmati Verma says. Photograph: felixR/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Migration and legal experts have warned the true number of visa decisions affected by invalid refusals of ministerial intervention is likely to be in the tens of thousands, after the high court rejected bureaucrats’ ability to block applications.

Advocates fear the court’s decision on Tuesday rejecting a Coalition-era policy that cases must show “unique or exceptional circumstances” could result in a hasty legislative fix.