Bloomfield (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Cth) considered an application for a Partner (Temporary) (Class UK) visa, subclass 820. The applicant sought a waiver of Schedule 3 criteria, which typically apply when an application is made after the expiry of a substantive visa. The applicant contended that compelling reasons existed for this waiver due to alleged misinformation from a migration agent regarding a previous student visa application, which she claimed led to her unawareness of its refusal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had established compelling reasons for a waiver of Schedule 3 criteria. This required the Tribunal to assess the applicant's claims regarding the migration agent's conduct, the applicant's lack of knowledge of the visa refusal, and whether these circumstances were beyond her control, as well as considering other factors such as the long-standing relationship with the sponsor and hardship.

The Tribunal found that the applicant had not provided sufficient evidence to substantiate her claims about the migration agent's actions or her lack of awareness of the student visa refusal. The applicant stated that her correspondence with the agent was primarily by telephone and that she did not retain emails, nor did she have evidence of engaging the agent or attempting to track him down. The Tribunal noted that the applicant only became aware of the refusal in 2018, after the relevant period for applying for the Partner visa had passed. Given the lack of credible evidence supporting the applicant's assertions about the agent and her subsequent lack of knowledge, the Tribunal concluded that the circumstances were not beyond her control and therefore did not constitute compelling reasons for a waiver of Schedule 3 criteria.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant the Partner (Temporary) (Class UK) visa, as she failed to satisfy the necessary criteria.