Da Silva (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a Partner (Provisional) (Class UF) visa, Subclass 309, made by the applicant, Da Silva, and a second applicant. The core of the dispute concerned a sponsorship limitation that applied to the first applicant, arising from a previous sponsorship made less than five years prior to the current application. However, by the time the Tribunal reached its decision, this limitation period had expired.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the sponsorship limitation was still operative at the time of its decision, and if not, whether the applicants otherwise met the criteria for the visa. A further issue was whether the Tribunal had erred in proceeding to make a decision without holding a hearing, as permitted by section 360(2)(a) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) if it could find in favour of the applicants on the available material.

The Tribunal reasoned that, as the five-year limitation period had passed, the previous sponsorship no longer prevented the grant of the visa. It concluded that the first applicant met the criteria for a Subclass 309 visa under clause 309.222 of Schedule 2 to the *Migration Regulations 1994* (Cth). The Tribunal also found that it had not erred in dispensing with a hearing, as it was able to determine the matter in favour of the applicants based on the material before it.

Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the applications for reconsideration, with a direction that the first named applicant met the relevant criteria for a Subclass 309 visa.