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Paul Burgess' visa returned after court rules Minister only did 'superficial' review of bikie material

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Paul Burgess with his fiancee Megan Ferris before he went into immigration detention.

Supplied: Megan Ferris
An Adelaide man who has been in immigration detention since June 2016 and facing deportation to the UK over links with the Comancheros bikie gang has won his latest legal fight against the Immigration Minister.

The Federal Government first stripped Paul Burgess of permanent residency based on two months of gang membership.

The Federal Court was told that when that decision was quashed in earlier proceedings, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton ruled — after 20 minutes of consideration — to cancel the visa again on grounds including a conviction for driving dangerously.

Mr Burgess' lawyer Mitchell Simmons said that decision had now been quashed by the court and his client was set to fly home to his fiancee and six-year-old son in Adelaide.

"The court has found in our case and, as it has found previously, that the time taken … is simply not enough for the Minister to have realistically considered all the factors he needs to make a decision of this magnitude," he said.

Mr Burgess, who has been in detention on Christmas Island, has not been in the UK since he was aged two.

"His visa has been reinstated. Unfortunately because it is Christmas Island, planes only leave on Tuesdays and Thursdays and he is still technically within the Christmas Island detention centre," his lawyer said.

"We, of course, are very excited by the news that we have had the decision quashed."

Mr Simmons said he remained wary the Federal Government might act again against his client.

"Following the decision [on Monday], we lodged an urgent application seeking to restrain the Minister from re-cancelling Paul's visa within the next 24 hours — unfortunately that was dismissed."

The lawyer said any move to cancel his client's visa again would be challenged.

Case required more than 'superficial perusal'

Mr Burgess was stripped of his residency as part of a nationwide purge of criminals without citizenship, aimed at disrupting Australia's most notorious criminal organisations.

He was brought to Australia by his English parents in 1986 and his fiancee Megan Ferris said his childhood had not been settled, and he often spent days alone at home.

Mr Burgess admitted he joined the bikie gang for a couple of months in 2013 at the urging of a school friend and that "I don't even know how to ride".

Justice Natalie Charlesworth ruled the Minister's full consideration of Mr Burgess' case "required something more than superficial perusal".

"In all of the circumstances, I consider it more probable than not that the Minister did not engage in the active intellectual process of reviewing the … materials," the judgment said.

"Accordingly, I am satisfied that the Minister did not properly decide the issues bearing on the exercise of the power … in relation to Mr Burgess' visa on their substantial merits."

A response is being sought from the Federal Government.

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