1611010 (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a Subclass 485 visa in the Graduate Work stream. The applicant sought to satisfy the primary criteria for this visa, specifically clauses 485.223 and 485.224 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations, which relate to the applicant's skills in relation to their nominated skilled occupation. The central dispute concerned whether the applicant had met these specific skill-related requirements.

The Tribunal was required to determine two key issues. Firstly, whether the applicant's visa application had been accompanied by evidence of an application for a skills assessment by a relevant assessing authority for their nominated skilled occupation at the time of application, as required by clause 485.223. Secondly, the Tribunal had to ascertain whether the applicant's skills for the nominated occupation had been assessed as suitable by a relevant assessing authority within the preceding three years, and if so, whether that assessment period had expired, as stipulated by clause 485.224.

In its reasoning, the Tribunal found that the applicant had nominated the occupation of Chef, which is a specified skilled occupation, and that Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) was the relevant assessing authority. The Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant had provided evidence of their application to TRA, including a TRA reference number and an acknowledgement of the application, thereby meeting the requirements of clause 485.223. Furthermore, the Tribunal noted the applicant had provided a TRA skills assessment dated 3 August 2016, confirming a suitable assessment within the last three years, with no indication that the assessment period had ended, thus satisfying clause 485.224. Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the visa application for reconsideration by the Minister, with a direction that the applicant had met the criteria under clauses 485.223 and 485.224.