Dhindsa (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal to the Tribunal regarding the approval of sponsorship for a Subclass 309 Partner (Provisional) visa. The core dispute revolved around whether the sponsorship requirements, specifically those relating to previous sponsorships and the time elapsed since, were met by the review applicant.

The Tribunal was required to determine if the sponsorship for the visa applicant should be approved, considering the limitations imposed by the Migration Regulations. Specifically, the Tribunal had to assess whether the five-year period stipulated in regulation 1.20J of the Regulations had elapsed since the review applicant's previous sponsorship, which had been for a Partner (Subclass 820) visa. The Tribunal also considered whether other regulations, such as 1.20KA and 1.20KB, might prevent the approval of sponsorship.

The Tribunal found that while the review applicant had been sponsored for a Partner visa in 2012, and had withdrawn a subsequent Partner visa application in 2016, the sponsorship limitations under regulation 1.20J no longer applied as five years had elapsed since the earlier visa application. The Tribunal noted that the review applicant had not applied to sponsor or be sponsored for any other partner visas and had not held a Parent visa, thus not triggering the limitations under regulations 1.20KA or 1.20KB. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the visa applicant met the criteria under cl.309.213(1) and cl.309.222(1) of Schedule 2 to the Regulations.

The Tribunal remitted the application for the Subclass 309 visa for reconsideration by the Minister, with the direction that the visa applicant met the specified criteria.