Elder (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of an applicant seeking an Employer Nomination (Permanent) (Class EN) visa, Subclass 186, under the Direct Entry stream. The dispute centred on whether the applicant had met the requirements for a skills assessment at the time of application.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine whether the applicant satisfied clause 186.234 of the Migration Regulations. This clause requires applicants in the Direct Entry stream to either be an exempt person or to have their skills assessed as suitable by a specified authority, along with meeting certain employment criteria, at the time of application. The Tribunal also considered whether the applicant fell within any of the specified classes of exempt persons.

The Tribunal reasoned that the applicant had provided a skills assessment dated 12 August 2015, which was after the visa application was lodged. Clause 186.234(2)(a) mandates that evidence of a suitable skills assessment must be provided at the time of application, meaning the assessment must pre-date or be contemporaneous with the application date. As the applicant was not an exempt person and had not met the skills assessment requirement at the time of application, they failed to satisfy clause 186.234.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant the Subclass 186 visa.