CHOUDHARY (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of Mr. Choudhary, an applicant for a Subclass 573 Higher Education Sector student visa. The dispute arose from the Minister's decision to cancel Mr. Choudhary's visa on the grounds that he had breached a condition of his visa by not being enrolled in a registered course of study. Mr. Choudhary sought review of this cancellation decision.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Mr. Choudhary had complied with condition 8202(2)(a) of his visa, which required him to be enrolled in a registered course of study. The Tribunal also had to consider whether, having found a breach, it should exercise its discretion to cancel the visa, taking into account all relevant circumstances.

The Tribunal found that Mr. Choudhary's enrolment in a Master of Management Information Systems course was cancelled on 29 June 2017, and he had not been enrolled in a registered course since that date. While Mr. Choudhary provided a Certificate III in Commercial Cookery, the Tribunal was not satisfied that this constituted enrolment in a registered course for the purposes of his student visa, particularly as it was not recorded in the Provider Registration and International Student Management System (PRISMS) and he could not provide a Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE). The Tribunal acknowledged Mr. Choudhary's stated reasons for his difficulties, including mental health issues, financial hardship, and gambling addiction, and the support offered by his brother. However, it concluded that these circumstances did not outweigh the breach of the visa condition.

Ultimately, the Tribunal affirmed the decision to cancel Mr. Choudhary's visa.