Gomez Ordonez (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered the case of Gomez Ordonez, who applied for a Subclass 602 Medical Treatment (Visitor) visa as a support person for his spouse. The core dispute revolved around whether the applicant met the requirements of clause 602.212(4) of Schedule 2 of the Migration Regulations 1994, which governs the eligibility of support persons for medical treatment visas.

The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicant satisfied the criteria for a Subclass 602 visa as a support person. Specifically, this involved assessing whether the applicant sought to provide emotional and other support to a person who held a relevant medical treatment visa, and whether that person, in this instance the applicant's spouse, actually held such a visa. The Tribunal also had to consider the spouse's eligibility for a Medical Treatment visa, which had been refused in a separate decision.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the explicit wording of clause 602.212(4)(b), which mandates that the person to whom support is to be provided must *hold* a Subclass 602 visa (or a comparable subclass 675 or 685 visa). In this case, the applicant's spouse had been refused a Subclass 602 visa by the Tribunal because she was not satisfied that the spouse had a genuine intention to stay temporarily in Australia for the purpose for which the visa was granted, as required by clause 602.215. Consequently, as the spouse did not hold the requisite visa, the applicant could not satisfy the criteria for a support person under clause 602.212(4).

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a Subclass 602 Medical Treatment (Visitor) visa.