An Indian student was the victim of a four year State “foul up” of his visa renewal application and of a “Kafakesque saga” involving an “abuse of administrative power” at considerable cost to the taxpayer, a High Court judge has found.
Ms Justice Maureen Clark made the remarks when granting leave yesterday to Sarvjeet Singh (27) to bring a judicial review challenge aimed at overturning a decision by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to deport him.
The deportation order arose after a college attended by Mr Singh closed down and he was unable to get certificates, required for his visa renewal, which showed he was a full time bona fide student.
His passport was then sezied by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) without appropriate
explanation, appeal or review and was followed by "four years of extraordinary inertia and ineptitude" by the State in dealing with his attempts to regularise his position, the judge outlined.
Mr Singh was "a victim of an abuse of administrative power" exposing him to manifest unfairness.
Mr Singh came here in 2002, when he was 19, to study English in the American College in Merrion Square, Dublin, where his attendance rate was 87 per cent - seven per cent above that required for visa certification.
The following year, he enrolled in a diploma course in information technology at the Parnell Technlogy College (PTC), formerly Boyne College, off Dublin's Parnell Street.
Ms Justice Clark said his attendance there was said to be high but was not capable of being certified
because the GNIB closed down the college in late July 2004. Mr Singh, who had heard rumours the PTC was to be closed had enrolled in another nearby business school from April but continued attending PTC in the hope his attendance there would be certified.
When the PTC closed, he was unable to get certification of his attendance. While he did get a certificate from the new business school, it only showed 25 per cent attendance because he only started there after the PTC closed in July.
In October that year, the GNIB refused to renew his visa and seized his passport without explanation. The Minister for Justice then notfied him he was to be deported because his level of attendance at his study course was based not on PTC attendance but on the business school certificate.
The judge said Mr Singh was not offered any opportunity to state his case before the Minister. Despite lengthy submissions from his solicitor, Con Pendred and Co, outlining what had happened over the PTC, the only response from the Visa Office was he was no longer entitled to study or work part-time as before. Mr Singh was struggling to survive as a result and being supported by friends and a relative in Germany.
He brought a High Court challenge whch was settled on the basis he could make fresh representations to the Minister.
However, in what the judge described as "a Kafkaesque saga" at considerable cost to the taxpayer, the Department of Justice reviewers of his case again recommended deportation without considering his full attendance record at PTC.
The actions of the Minister in ignoring his earlier submissions forced Mr Singh into a legal cul-de-sac where the possibility of an "equitable exit was nil", the judge said. A deportation order had serious consequences for his future because it would restrict his ability to apply to enter the EU, and other countries, for five years.
While she was only dealing with whether to grant leave to bring judicial review proceedings, she hoped the "decent thing" would be done, the judge said. From "top to bottom", Mr Singh had been dealt with unfairly and deserved to have his passport back.