Dunlop (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485, Graduate Work stream. The applicant sought to satisfy the primary criteria for this visa, which relate to the applicant's skills in their nominated occupation. The dispute arose because the applicant did not provide the required skills assessment for their nominated occupation.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant met the criteria under clauses 485.223 and 485.224 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations. Specifically, the court needed to ascertain if the applicant had provided evidence of applying for a skills assessment by a relevant assessing authority for their nominated skilled occupation, as defined by regulation 1.15I and specified in Legislative Instrument IMMI LIN 19/051.

The Tribunal found that the applicant had nominated the occupation of Management Consultant, which required a skills assessment from VETASSESS. While the applicant had applied for a skills assessment for Customer Service Manager, this was not the nominated occupation. The applicant mistakenly selected Management Consultant from a drop-down list when completing her visa application, believing it to be the closest available occupation to Customer Service Manager. As a skills assessment for Management Consultant was not provided, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not satisfy the visa criteria.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant the Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa. The Tribunal noted that the applicant might consider seeking ministerial intervention under section 351 of the Migration Act 1958, and advised her on how to gather relevant information for such a consideration.