Hassan (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for a Partner (Provisional) (Class UF) visa (Subclass 309). The applicants provided a birth certificate for their child indicating a date of birth that did not align with the sponsor's return trips to Pakistan, raising questions about the accuracy of the information provided. The court was required to determine whether the applicants had provided a bogus document or false or misleading information in a material particular, and if so, whether there were compassionate or compelling circumstances to waive this requirement.

The court considered the inconsistent explanations provided by the applicants regarding the child's date of birth. Initially, the sponsor maintained the date on the birth certificate was correct, despite evidence to the contrary. Subsequently, a statutory declaration was provided by the sponsor stating his brother had added a year to the child's age for educational purposes. The court found these attempts to present the error as a clerical mistake or an innocent oversight unconvincing, particularly in light of earlier statements and the timing of the revised information. The court applied the principle from *Trivedi v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection*, which established that while direct knowledge or complicity of the visa applicant is not always necessary, the information or document must possess a "purposeful falsity" for Public Interest Criterion 4020 to be engaged.

The court accepted the sponsor's later explanation that his brother had altered the date of birth to benefit the child's schooling, finding this to be the truth of the matter. However, the court expressed disappointment at the applicants' inconsistent evidence and attempts to portray unawareness of the error, noting this compromised credibility. Despite these findings, the court remitted the applications for reconsideration by the Minister, directing that the first named applicant met Public Interest Criterion 4020(4) for the purposes of clause 309.225 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations.