Claffey (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal before the Tribunal regarding applications for Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visas, specifically Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) visas. The primary applicant had nominated the occupation of Carpenter (331212). The dispute centred on whether the applicant met the requirements of clause 485.224(1) of the relevant regulations, which mandates a skills assessment by a relevant authority within the last three years, with any specified validity period not having expired.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had provided sufficient evidence that their skills for the nominated occupation of Carpenter had been assessed as suitable by Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) within the preceding three years and that the assessment's validity period had not ended. The Tribunal also considered the application of a second applicant, who was refused on the grounds of not being a member of the family unit of a relevant visa holder.

The Tribunal reasoned that while the Department had initially requested evidence of the skills assessment which the applicant could not provide within the specified timeframe, the applicant had since provided evidence of a skills assessment completed on 9 October 2019. The Tribunal verified this assessment and found it to be within the last three years and that its validity period had not expired. Consequently, the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant met the requirements of cl.485.224(1). For the second applicant, the Tribunal noted that her eligibility would be reconsidered by the Department upon remittal, in light of the outcome of the first applicant's application.

The Tribunal remitted the applications for Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visas for reconsideration. It directed that the first named applicant met the criteria under cl.485.224(1) of Schedule 2 to the Regulations.