Bhatti (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered a decision concerning an applicant for an Employer Nomination (Permanent) (Class EN) visa, specifically under the Temporary Residence Transition stream of the Subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme. The applicant sought to have a decision reviewed that affirmed the refusal of her visa application.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the English language requirements stipulated by clause 186.222 of the Migration Regulations 1994. This required the Tribunal to determine if the applicant possessed "vocational English" or fell within a class of persons exempt from this requirement as specified in legislative instrument IMMI 15/083. The Tribunal also considered whether the applicant's circumstances warranted ministerial intervention.

The Tribunal reasoned that to satisfy the vocational English requirement for a visa application made on 25 July 2016, an applicant needed to have undertaken a specified English language test within the three years preceding the application date and achieved a specified score, or held a passport from a designated country. The applicant's IELTS test from 2008 was outside this timeframe, and a subsequent PTE Academic test in 2018 was completed after the visa application date, rendering both ineligible for consideration. Furthermore, the Tribunal found that the applicant did not meet any of the exemptions outlined in IMMI 15/083, as she did not hold a passport from an exempt country, nor had she completed secondary or higher education in English. The Tribunal concluded that the applicant's circumstances were not unique or exceptional enough to warrant ministerial intervention.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant the Employer Nomination (Permanent) (Class EN) visa.