Gyawali (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485, brought before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The applicant sought review of a decision concerning their eligibility for the visa.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the requirements of clause 485.224(1) of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994. This clause mandates that an applicant's skills for their nominated occupation must have been assessed as suitable by a relevant assessing authority within the preceding three years, and that any specified validity period for that assessment must not have expired.

The Tribunal considered the applicant's nominated occupation of Engineering Technologist and the relevant assessing authority, Engineers Australia. While the applicant had applied for a skills assessment in July 2019, they had not provided evidence of the outcome to the Department when requested. However, the Tribunal subsequently received and verified evidence that the applicant's skills assessment was completed on 3 July 2020, which fell within the three-year period. The Tribunal was satisfied that the assessment met the requirements of clause 485.224(1) and that its validity period had not ended.

Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the visa applications for the first, second, and third named applicants to the Minister for reconsideration, with a direction that the first named applicant satisfied the criteria under clause 485.224(1) for a Subclass 485 visa.