1510542 (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the decision to cancel the visa of an Indian national, the holder of a Subclass 573 Higher Education Sector Visa. The applicant arrived in Australia in February 2014 and was enrolled in a package course at The University of Western Sydney. The dispute arose when the Department of Immigration and Border Protection accessed the Provider Registration and International Student Management System (PRISMS) and found that the applicant had ceased enrolment at the university.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had breached condition 8202 of Schedule 8 to the Migration Regulations 1994, which requires a student visa holder to be enrolled in a registered course of study. If a breach was found, the Tribunal also had to consider whether the visa cancellation decision should be affirmed, taking into account any hardship the applicant might experience. The applicant contended that he had been misled by migration agents and had experienced personal difficulties, including homesickness and depression, which led to his disengagement from his studies.

The Tribunal found that the applicant had not been enrolled in a registered course of study since 15 April 2015, thereby breaching condition 8202(2)(a). The applicant's submissions regarding his personal circumstances and the alleged misadvice from migration agents were not sufficiently evidenced to outweigh the clear breach of the visa condition. The Tribunal noted that the applicant had only attended university for a very short period and had not completed his initial English language program, nor commenced any subsequent studies. Despite the applicant's stated desire to continue his studies in Australia, the Tribunal concluded that the hardship he claimed would be caused by the cancellation did not outweigh the grounds for cancellation.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision to cancel the applicant's visa.