Kaur (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered a decision to cancel the Subclass 573 Higher Education Sector visa of the applicant, Ms. Kaur. The dispute arose because the Department of Immigration and Border Protection formed the view that Ms. Kaur had ceased to comply with a condition of her visa, specifically condition 8516, which requires the visa holder to continue to satisfy the criteria for the grant of the visa.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the ground for cancellation existed, namely whether Ms. Kaur had failed to comply with condition 8516. This involved assessing whether she was enrolled in a registered higher education course or held a valid offer of enrolment in such a course at the time the notice of intention to consider cancellation was issued. The Department's decision was based on departmental systems indicating that Ms. Kaur was no longer enrolled in a qualifying course after her enrolment in a Bachelor of Business – Accounting at Cambridge College ceased.

The Tribunal reasoned that while Ms. Kaur's enrolment at Cambridge College had ceased, she held a valid offer letter from Stott's College for a Bachelor of Business, a CRICOS registered higher education course. This offer letter, dated prior to the cessation of her Cambridge enrolment, indicated a course start date of 19 March 2018 and did not appear to have expired. The Tribunal concluded that holding this valid offer letter meant Ms. Kaur continued to satisfy the criteria for her visa, thereby complying with condition 8516.

Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the decision to cancel Ms. Kaur's visa and substituted a decision not to cancel it. The Tribunal noted it had no jurisdiction concerning a second applicant.