Ajiboye (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the cancellation of a Subclass 500 (Student) visa held by the applicant, Mr. Ajiboye. The dispute arose because the applicant's visa was granted under circumstances where Departmental employees in Pretoria were found to have acted improperly, bypassing standard procedures and potentially accepting bribes. This led to an investigation into a cohort of visas, including the applicant's, which were identified as having been improperly granted.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the grounds for cancelling the visa under section 116(1)(g) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and regulation 2.43(1)(o) of the Migration Regulations 1994 were made out. Specifically, the Tribunal had to assess if the applicant's visa was granted due to fraudulent or improper conduct by Departmental employees, and if so, whether the visa should be cancelled, considering all relevant circumstances. This involved examining the applicant's compliance with visa conditions and the genuineness of the information and documents provided in support of his application.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the findings of the Departmental investigation, which indicated that Departmental staff in Pretoria had bypassed procedures in granting student visas to a group of Nigerian applicants, including the applicant. While the applicant provided some evidence, such as a verified university certificate, the Tribunal found significant issues with other aspects of his application. These included an inability to verify his senior school certificate, a potentially misleading disclosure regarding a Canadian visa refusal, and crucially, a non-genuine English language test document confirmed by the testing provider. The Tribunal concluded that these issues, coupled with the improper conduct in the visa grant process, meant it could not be satisfied that the applicant met the Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirements at the time of the hearing, nor that the English language proficiency requirements were met.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision to cancel the applicant's Subclass 500 (Student) visa.