Hailu (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of Mr Yonas Hailu, who was the sponsor for a Partner (Provisional) visa (subclass 309). The primary visa applicant was Ms Rahel Alemenew Debalke, and the secondary applicants were her nieces. The dispute centred on whether these nieces qualified as members of the family unit for the purposes of the visa application.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the secondary applicants, who were the sponsor's nieces, met the definition of "member of the family unit" as defined in regulation 1.12 of the Migration Regulations 1994. Specifically, the Tribunal had to ascertain if they were a spouse, de facto partner, child, step-child, or a dependent child of a child, of the primary applicant or the sponsor, and if any applicable dependency or age criteria were satisfied.

The Tribunal reasoned that the secondary applicants were neither the spouse nor de facto partner of the primary applicant. Furthermore, as they were the nieces of the sponsor and not the biological children of the primary applicant or the sponsor, they did not meet the definition of a child or step-child under regulation 1.12(2)(b) or section 5CA(1)(a) of the Migration Act 1958. The Tribunal also noted that there was no evidence that any adoption order had been registered, which might have altered their status. Consequently, the Tribunal found that the secondary applicants did not satisfy the criteria for being a member of the family unit.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the Partner (Provisional) visas to the secondary applicants, concluding that they did not meet the requirements for inclusion as dependants in the visa application.