Chauhan (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewed a decision by a delegate of the Minister to cancel the subclass 573 Student (Temporary) visa held by an Indian citizen. The visa was granted on the condition that the applicant remain enrolled in a registered course of study in Australia. The delegate cancelled the visa under section 116(1)(b) of the Migration Act, finding that the applicant had breached this condition.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant had indeed breached the condition requiring continuous enrolment in a registered course, and if so, whether the visa cancellation was appropriate. The applicant's visa was subject to condition 8202 of the Migration Regulations, which mandates ongoing enrolment in a registered course. The delegate's decision was based on information from the PRISMS database, which records student enrolment status and is used by education providers to report changes, including cancellations of enrolment and the reasons for them.

The Tribunal considered evidence that the applicant was not enrolled in a registered course for a continuous period of over eight months, from 19 May 2017 to 1 February 2018, the date of the delegate's cancellation decision. This period of non-enrolment, as recorded in the PRISMS database, constituted a breach of condition 8202. The PRISMS database is the primary system for education providers to notify relevant government departments of changes to international students' enrolment status, thereby facilitating the monitoring of compliance with visa conditions. The applicant had changed to vocational courses and failed to pay course fees, leading to financial hardship, which was the underlying reason for the non-enrolment. The Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision to cancel the visa.