Bakircioglu (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of Bakircioglu, an applicant for a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) in the Graduate Work stream. The dispute centred on whether the applicant had met the requirements for a skills assessment for the nominated occupation of Accountant (General) at the time of lodging her visa application.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine whether the applicant had satisfied clause 485.223 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994. This clause mandates that a visa application must be accompanied by evidence of an application for a skills assessment by a relevant assessing authority for the nominated skilled occupation, made prior to or at the time of lodging the visa application. The Tribunal also considered the definitions of "skilled occupation" and "relevant assessing authority" as provided in the Regulations and relevant legislative instruments.

The Tribunal found that while the applicant had nominated Accountant (General) as her skilled occupation and identified CPA Australia Ltd as the relevant assessing authority, the evidence indicated that the fee for the skills assessment was paid on 30 January 2020. The applicant confirmed that she did not make the application for the skills assessment until after she lodged her visa application. Although the Tribunal acknowledged the applicant's concerns about her visa expiring and her decision to lodge the application herself, it held that it had no discretion to make allowances for individual circumstances regarding the mandatory requirement of having applied for the skills assessment prior to lodging the visa application.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant the Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, as she had failed to meet the essential criteria stipulated by the Regulations.