Pham Thi Tuyet v. The Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office

HCAL 1638/2020

[2025] HKCFI 5175

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST NO 1638 OF 2020

Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review
NOTIFICATION of the Judge’s decision (Ord 53 r 3)

Following:

	consideration of the documents only;       or
	consideration of the documents and oral submissions by the Applicant in open court;

Order by Deputy High Court Judge (Non-Refoulement Claims) Vincent Lung:

1.  Form 86 be amended, naming the Director of Immigration as the Putative Interested Party.

2.  The application for leave to apply for judicial review be dismissed.

Observations for the Applicant:

Introduction

1.By a Form 86 filed on 11 August 2020 (the “Form 86”), the Applicant applied for leave to apply for judicial review against the decision by the Torture Claims Appeal Board (the “TCAB”) dated 24 July 2020 (the “TCAB Decision”), which affirmed the decision of the Director of Immigration (the “DOI”) dated 2 March 2020.

2.I amend the Form 86 on my own motion to name the DOI as the putative interested party.

3.The Applicant did not request for an oral hearing of this application. As such, I shall proceed by way of paper disposal.

Background

4.The Applicant is a national of Vietnam. She said that she would be harmed or killed if she were to return to Vietnam, because she borrowed a significant sum of money from a loan shark (affiliated with triads) but she failed to repay because she was defrauded in her business. The creditor attacked and threatened her, but the local police was dismissive about the Applicant’s complaint and report. The Applicant’s personal background, the relevant facts and relevant procedural history have been sufficiently set out in the TCAB Decision, which can be viewed through a hyperlink[1]. I shall therefore not repeat them.

Discussion

5.The leave application operates as a filtering process and there is no requirement or expectation to give elaborate reasons for my decision: Re Zunariyah [2018] HKCA 14 at [23]. It is sufficient to state my observations after considering the TCAB Decision and the materials adduced by the Applicant.

6.I remind myself that in a judicial review, this court does not provide a further avenue of appeal. Though in non-refoulement cases an enhanced standard in scrutinizing the decision of the TCAB is required given the seriousness of the issue at hand, this court should not usurp the role of the TCAB, which together with the DOI are the primary decision-makers. A finding of fact is exclusively within the realm of the TCAB, and this court will not intervene by way of judicial review unless there are errors of law or procedural unfairness or irrationality in the decision of the TCAB: Nupur Mst v Director of Immigration [2018] HKCA 524 at [14(1)]. There must be a reasonably arguable case with a realistic prospect of success before leave for judicial review will be granted: Peter Po Fun Chan v Winnie Cheung (2007) 10 HKCFAR 676.

7.In a proper Form 86, an applicant is required to identify the grounds of judicial review clearly and succinctly: Ho Loy v Director of Environmental Protection (unreported, HCAL 21/2015, 22 December 2016) at [142], and further to make full and frank disclosure of all material facts to be verified by an affidavit.

8.The Applicant did not point to any error of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality of the TCAB Decision in the Form 86. In her 1^st supporting affirmation dated 11 August 2020, she contended that her life would be in danger if she was to return. In her 2^nd supporting affirmation dated 4 September 2023, she produced 2 exhibits (totaling 4 pages) essentially repeating that she was still subject to serious threats.

9.As can be seen from the TCAB Decision, the TCAB fully took into account all the evidence available [1-5, 23] and found that on the basis of the same, applying also the correct legal principles in respect of all four applicable grounds [6-16] and considering Country of Origin information [33-34], the Applicant’s allegations were insufficient to make out any of the applicable grounds [24-44].

10.The TCAB also considered that state protection and internal relocation were available to the Applicant [32, 34, 45-47].

11.I further note that the TCAB properly considered whether it was appropriate to deal with the appeal / petition on paper to ensure procedural fairness [17-22].

12.The Applicant’s contention that she remained (and remains) in danger is not a matter I need to deal with at hand. It does not go to the reasonableness or correctness of the TCAB Decision in the public law sense.

13.All in all, I do not see any errors of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality in the TCAB Decision, despite rigorous examination and anxious scrutiny. The Applicant’s intended challenge to the TCAB Decision is not reasonably arguable, and accordingly the application for leave to apply for judicial review is dismissed.

Dated the 7^th day of November 2025

Where leave to apply has been granted, Applicants and their legal advisers are reminded of their obligation to reconsider the merits of their application in the light of the Respondent’s evidence

Form CALL-1