The High Court has ruled that an Afghan refugee who came to Australia as a child should be allowed to sponsor his mother for a humanitarian visa.
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Sayed Abdul Rahman Shahi came to Australia in May 2009 and was granted a protection visa.
In December 2009, he applied for a special humanitarian visa for his mother and several other family members to join him in Australia.
But the federal Department of Immigration and Citizenship did not make a decision on the visas until September last year, after Mr Shahi had turned 18.
Because Mr Shahi was over 18, his mother no longer qualified as an "immediate family member" under the department's rules and the visa application was rejected.
This afternoon the High Court ruled that the department had made an error and there was no requirement that Mr Shahi's mother should be an "immediate family member" at the time of the decision.
