Nilesh Nandan As Seen In The Guardian Article On Protection Visa Win In Full Federal Court

“homosexuality was a matter in which many people held deeply ingrained, and sometimes unconscious, beliefs and assumptions.”

“This can cause real difficulties in circumstances where a decision-maker may be unable to separate certain such assumptions from the decision-making process”

— The Indian asylum seeker’s lawyer, Nilesh Nandan, told the Guardian

— Nilesh Nandan, special counsel with My Visa Australia, a national immigration practice.

Cases by Nilesh Nandan

About Nilesh Nandan – Immigration Lawyer BBUS (Accy) LLB (QUT) GDLP MBA

I was admitted to practice law in Australia in 1993. I first became registered as an Australian Migration Agent when launching MyVisa in 1999. Managing immigration applications is all I’ve ever done since. And I love it!

My first desk (one which I could truly call my own) was a crude bench in a shared cubicle, above an inner-city chicken shop.

Today I operate multiple offices across Australia, including locations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

I don't want to be surprised!

I’ve now spent more than 20,000 hours advising visa applicants and their sponsors. Every day I travel to one of our MyVisa® offices Australia-wide. I meet with clients like you, face-to-face, or offer my advice by telephone in cases where things need to be actioned urgently.

I migrated with my parents, two older sisters and younger brother to Australia in 1976, after the Australian Labour Party abandoned the White Australia Policy, landing in Australia by boat.

I started school at the local public primary school, riding there daily on my Madison 10-speed racer. I became studious in the hope that better marks would immunise me from school-yard bullying. That didn’t work.

I attended Brisbane Grammar School, loved math, reluctantly learned Latin, and played rugby before studying law and accounting at QUT. The QUT program in 1987 was one of Australia’s first combined degrees.

In 1990, I attended Harvard University and completed their Business Case Study Program, a foundation program for their MBA. I returned from the US to Queensland and completed a Bachelor of Business, Bachelor of Laws and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. I also completed an MBA in International Business.

Having dedicated all my professional life to Immigration Law, I have now helped several thousand visa applicants and their families get visa grants. I’ve been involved in hundreds of visa appeals at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the “AAT”, previously called the “MRT”).

My work involves persuading decision-makers to grant visas.

I can represent you at several levels – Departmental, Ministerial Intervention, AAT, IAA, Federal Circuit Court, as well as the Federal Court. Can you benefit from my experience?

Refusals and Cancellations

 I have a special interest (and exceptional success rate) in assisting with visa refusals and visa cancellations. Our practice runs many immigration appeals. I’m fortunate to have been trusted to personally handle more refusals and appeals than most immigration experts would see in their entire careers.

Learning & Teaching

I also get great satisfaction mentoring new immigration lawyers who queue up to complete their Practical Legal Training (PLT) with us, and I assist migration agents with their own practices issues. At the same time, I’m blessed to receive mentoring from immigration lawyers and barristers who are far senior to me.

Get Started

I feel incredibly privileged to assist people like you. My satisfaction comes from helping you get a better outcome. Our fees are more expensive than many agents and some applicants simply won’t be able to afford our fees. I act for a select group of applicants and sponsors who need street-smart, practical advice, fast. Can I help you?

MyVisa® Australia takes care of all visa, sponsorship and citizenship application lodgments and approvals. This involves representation at the Department of Immigration, the Australian Passports Office and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

MyVisa® Lawyers supports visa applicants and their sponsors in appeals made to the Federal Circuit Court and to the Federal Court of Australia.

Why Your Submissions Should Be Short

When I was at school I did l well. I received distinctions in Maths 1 and Maths 2 and Physics and Chemistry and Economics. Where I didn’t do as well was in English. I only was able to manage a “credit” in English. 

On the day I was required to make a selection of what I would choose as my preferred university degree, I was hell bent on choosing Commerce. It was only that year that a combined Degree in Commerce and Law was offered for the very first time.

I walked in for my 10 min chat with my form master at Brisbane Grammar School’s “E” block. My English teachers had given me poor English grades over the years. I could never achieve the marks attained by the boy sitting next to me. Tim Hooper wrote some of the most brilliant essays at our school.

What’s Best Practice & What Works 

When my form master suggested to me that I should select a combined Degree, one including law, I was astonished. I thought he was being sarcastic. My teacher quickly went on to explain to me that the best lawyers are the ones that can identify relevant issues and respond to these issues succinctly with a short well-structured argument. 

I decided to try my hand at a combined degree – a law degree in combination with business. Today I still listen to my English teacher and I ensure that every submission I do is as short and as succinct as possible. 

Keep It Simple

The reason for this is that many decision-makers are inherently lazy people who believe they know it all. That is not to say that they are bad people. (I often dream of being a decision-maker myself!). 

What is important is that your communication with a decision-matter persuades them (as quickly as possible) to make a decision in your favour … to do this, the submission better be succinct! It must help the decision-maker rather than cause them grief, including by giving them unnecessary material to read and later reference in their decision records.

Too Much Rope

Another reason why you should have succinct submissions is that it is possible in some cases to give the department “rope with which to hang you”. Superfluous additional materials can raise issues which are not directly relevant to the core issues but could raise questions prejudicial to your application.

Today I peruse the submissions of many practitioners in the migration advice industry with the view of identifying legal error, exploring opportunities for appeal or seeking remedies for clients from agents who have deliberately or inadvertently let their clients down. 

The Best Submissions

I am astonished with some of the unnecessary complexity inherent in many submissions. Many advisors fall into the trap of believing that longer more complex submissions are better submissions.

The view that longer submissions are more compelling “better” submissions or that longer submissions represent better value for money for clients is too often held by laypersons, but it is a view that is inconceived. 

The only thing that one needs to consider when writing a submission is whether or not your clients point is advanced. The critical factor that could lead to a longer bundle is the quantity and the length of each document which is referenced, in your otherwise succinct argument. 

What A Great Submission Looks Like.

You must have a very succinct statement (letter) as to why a favourable decision should be made and indeed can be made quickly by the decision maker, because of the submission provided. 

You should have a chronology which lists a series of relevant events in your immigration journey. This is usually a three column table. In the first column state the date. In the second column state the event. In the third column add comments as to why this event is relevant and what supporting material (attached) relates to this event.

The chronology should be followed by relevant supporting documents (with an index) which support the chronology that you are making. Each supporting document should be labels (for example “A”) and mentioned in the chronology.

The entire submission should be nothing more than this. Be aware of the lawyer who puts in submissions which are overly complicated or submissions muddied with volumes and volumes of material.