Bemidi (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of an applicant whose Student (Temporary) (Class TU) visa, subclass 573, was cancelled. The dispute centred on whether the applicant had breached a condition of their visa, specifically condition 8202 of Schedule 8 to the Migration Regulations 1994, and whether the discretion to cancel the visa should be exercised.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine if the applicant had complied with condition 8202, which requires a visa holder to be enrolled in a registered course and to achieve satisfactory course progress and attendance. If a breach was found, the Tribunal then had to consider whether to exercise its discretion to cancel the visa, having regard to the circumstances of the case.

The Tribunal found that the applicant had breached condition 8202(2) as they admitted to not being enrolled in a registered course between May 2017 and July 2018. Despite the applicant's stated intentions to study and enhance future employment prospects, and the financial support from family and friends, the Tribunal noted the applicant's vague career plans and the lack of concrete evidence to support claims of completing a prior course or the reasons for re-enrolling. The Tribunal concluded that the circumstances, including the prolonged period of non-enrolment and the applicant's inconsistent explanations regarding their studies, constituted a significant breach, and therefore affirmed the decision to cancel the applicant's visa.