Kaur (Migration)

In this matter before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Ms Nitamjit Kaur sought review of a decision by a delegate of the Minister to refuse her application for a 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored visa. The refusal was based on the delegate's dissatisfaction that Ms Kaur met the visa's English language requirements.

The Tribunal was required to determine two primary issues. The first concerned the validity of an English language test result from a Cambridge English Advanced (CAE) test undertaken by Ms Kaur on 4 August 2018 in the United Arab Emirates. The second issue related to the identity of the person who sat this test.

The Tribunal noted that while Ms Kaur was initially provided with a result for the CAE test, Cambridge English subsequently withdrew the results for all candidates at that centre due to suspected malpractice. Investigations revealed irregularities in the timing of the test administration and unusually high pass rates among candidates. The malpractice committee concluded that the reliability of the results was unsafe and recommended their withdrawal. The test centre failed to inform candidates of this outcome, and Ms Kaur only discovered the withdrawal in September 2020. She subsequently appealed the withdrawal of her results directly to Cambridge English, providing an undated statement in support of her appeal.