A SPECIAL closed-door judicial hearing today will determine whether orphaned Vietnamese teenager Ngo Van Ha has a right to judicial review of his status.
Ha's lawyer, Pam Baker, said she received a summons yesterday issued by the Attorney-General's office calling for her to present Ha's case at a chambers hearing this afternoon.
She must prove that there is a sound basis in seeking the review which could result in an order being made for Ha to be re-screened.
In March 1992 Ha was screened out as a refugee. His appeal was rejected and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) special committee for vulnerable persons advised that he should be returned to Vietnam.
He has been at the centre of a running controversy in recent weeks after a High Court judge urged the authorities to consider sending him to California where relatives have said they will take him.
Ha faces being returned to his home city of Nha Trang to an aunt and uncle who have told the South China Morning Post they do not want the boy to live with them.
They consider Ha to be a trouble maker and an extra mouth to feed at a time when they are struggling to provide for their own two children and Ha's younger sister who is also staying with them.