Ermiati v. Torture Claims Appeal Board

Case No.HCAL 664/2022[2025] HKCFI 6470

Court

High Court CFI

Date31 Dec 2025

Judge—

Case Document

100%

HCAL 664/2022

[2025] HKCFI 6470

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST NO 664 OF 2022

BETWEEN
	Ermiati	Applicant
	and
	Torture Claims Appeal Board	Putative Respondent
	and
	Director of Immigration	Putative Interested Party

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 / the Applicant being absent in open court;

Order by Deputy High Court Judge Bruno Chan:

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

Observations for the Applicant:

1.The Applicant is a 41-year-old national of Indonesia who some time in 2015 raised a non-refoulement claim for protection to the Immigration Department, and for which she was given a briefing on 16 November 2015 by an immigration officer of the necessary information and requirements to proceed with her claim, and was given a Non-refoulement Claim Form (“NCF”) for her to complete and return within 28 days on or before 4 January 2016, as well as information for legal assistance and representation from the Duty Lawyer Service (“DLS”) for her claim.

2.However, and notwithstanding repeated reminders from the Immigration Department to both the Applicant and her lawyer at DLS, the Applicant never returned her NCF as required or at all, and by a Notice of Decision dated 12 January 2016 the Director treated her non-refoulement claim as having been withdrawn, and informed the Applicant accordingly and with an advice that she may apply to re-open her claim upon compliance with certain requirements under Section 37ZG(3) of the Immigration Ordinance, Cap 115.

3.The Applicant never did so, nor did she bring any appeal to the Torture Claims Appeal Board (“Board”) against the Director’s decision, and instead more than 6 years later on 26 July 2022 she filed a Form 86 in these proceedings for leave to apply for judicial review of the Director’s decision, and no ground for seeking relief was given in her Form or supporting affirmation of the same date to which she just attached a copy of the Director’s decision but without putting forth any proper ground for her intended challenge, or for that matter any explanation as to why she had never first made any request to the Director to re-open her claim.

4.As such, and in the absence of any request first made by the Applicant to the Director to re-open her claim under Section 37ZG(3) of the Immigration Ordinance, I do not find any legal or procedural basis for her to instead seek leave to apply for judicial review of the Director’s decision, and accordingly I dismiss her application.

Dated the 31^st day of December 2025

(Chung Lai Fan, Christine)
for Registrar, High Court

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

Notes for the Applicant: If leave has been granted, the Applicant or the Applicant’s solicitors must:
a) serve on the respondent and such interested parties as may be directed by the Court the order granting leave and any directions given within 14 days after the leave was granted (Order 53, rule 4A); b) issue the originating summons within 14 days after the grant of leave and serve it in accordance with Order 53, rule 5; and c) supply to every other party copies of every affidavit which the Applicant proposes to use at the hearing, including the affidavit in support of the application for leave (Order 53, rule 6(5)).		Sent to the Applicant on 31 December 2025 Ermiati Applicant’s ref. no.: Nil.		Sent to the Putative Respondent / the Putative Respondent’s solicitors / such Putative Interested Parties as may be directed by the Court / the Putative Interested Parties’ solicitors on 31 December 2025 Torture Claims Appeal Board Putative Respondent’s ref. no.: L/M(32) to TCAB/1-20-4 Director of Immigration Putative Interested Party’s ref. no.: QA T/C 2386/15 (formerly RBCZ/1918/14) Department of Justice, Senior Assistant Law Officer (Civil Law) (Civil Litigation Unit 2)

Form CALL-1