Novak Djokovic's visa cancelled by Australian government again, may lead to three-year ban

Serbian Tennis star Novak Djokovic’s visa has been cancelled for the second time. Although, It is still unclear whether Australia will move to deport the Serbian star as the decision can still be challenged by his legal team.

The visa was restored by a federal circuit court judge ruling in Djokovic’s favour on January 10 but the government lawyers immediately put the world number 1 on notice that Australia’s immigration minister Alex Hawke could still exercise a personal power to re-cancel the visa.

Official decision

The Statement put out by the Immigration minister read, “Today I exercised my power under section 133C(3) of the Migration Act to cancel the visa held by Mr Novak Djokovic on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so.

"This decision followed orders by the Federal Circuit and Family Court on 10 January 2022, quashing a prior cancellation decision on procedural fairness grounds.

"In making this decision, I carefully considered information provided to me by the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force and Mr Djokovic.

"The Morrison Government is firmly committed to protecting Australia’s borders, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I thank the officers of the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force who work every day to serve Australia’s interests in increasingly challenging operational environments.”

Djokovic’s visa was first cancelled by a delegate of the home affairs minister on January 6 , on the basis of a recent Covid-19 infection and since he was unvaccinated, the Serb could have posed some serious risk to public health and all the other players as well.

A delay in the official draw

Previously, the official delay of the draw was delayed without any prior explanation due to the uncertainty over the defending champion’s participation in the Australian Open. 

The current world No. 1 previously had accepted his mistake in submitting information. Djokovic talked about in an Instagram post.

"My agent sincerely apologises for the administrative mistake in ticking the incorrect box," he wrote on Instagram.

"This was a human error and certainly not deliberate."