Amarasinghe (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for a Bridging E (Class WE) visa by a Sri Lankan citizen whose Student visa had been cancelled. The applicant sought merits review of the visa cancellation decision. The primary dispute before the court was whether the applicant met the criteria for the grant of a Bridging E visa, specifically whether he was making acceptable arrangements to depart Australia and would abide by the conditions of the visa.

The court was required to determine if the applicant satisfied the primary criteria for a Bridging E visa under subclause 050.212(1) of the Regulations, which must be met at both the time of application and the time of the Tribunal's decision. A key consideration was subclause 050.212(2), which requires the applicant to be making, or be the subject of, acceptable arrangements to depart Australia. If these primary criteria were not met, the Tribunal had no alternative but to affirm the Department's decision.

The court reasoned that while the applicant's Student visa had been cancelled due to serious charges, he was subsequently found not guilty of most charges, pleading guilty only to possessing child pornography. The Tribunal considered this outcome, along with the applicant's intention to depart Australia, and found that the applicant met certain criteria for the Bridging E visa. The court noted that the applicant had only one unit remaining for his Master's degree at the time of visa cancellation.

The Tribunal remitted the matter for reconsideration with the direction that the applicant meets the criteria specified in cl.050.212, cl.050.221, and cl.050.223 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations for a Subclass 050 (Bridging General) visa.