Dao (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of an applicant seeking a Skilled Independent (Permanent) visa (Class SI) subclass 189. The central dispute concerned whether the applicant met the points test criterion for the visa, which requires a score not less than the invitation score and not less than the qualifying score. The applicant had nominated the occupation of Computer Network and Systems Engineer.

The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicant's assessed score under the points system, as prescribed by Schedule 6D to the Regulations and relevant legislative instruments, met the qualifying score of 60 points. This involved assessing the applicant's attributes, including age and English language proficiency, against the criteria in force at the time of the delegate's assessment and the Tribunal's assessment, applying whichever was more favourable. The invitation score was 65 points.

The Tribunal found that the applicant, aged 31 at the time of invitation, was entitled to 30 points for age. However, the applicant did not provide evidence of achieving the required minimum score of 7 in each band of an IELTS test, meaning they were not entitled to points for English language proficiency. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant was entitled to a maximum of 50 points under the points test.

As the applicant's assessed score of 50 points was less than the qualifying score of 60 points, the applicant did not satisfy the criterion for the visa. Therefore, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant the Skilled Independent (Permanent) visa.