KOLLURU (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered applications for a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) visa, Post-Study Work stream, made by Dr. Srinivas Kolluru and his family members. The core dispute concerned whether Dr. Kolluru met the Australian study requirement for the visa.

The Tribunal was required to determine if Dr. Kolluru held a qualification specified by the Minister, if it was conferred by a specified educational institution, and crucially, whether his study satisfied the Australian study requirement within the six months preceding his visa application. This latter requirement involved assessing whether his Doctor of Philosophy from Macquarie University met the criteria of being a registered course, completed in at least 16 calendar months, involving at least two academic years of study (defined as 92 weeks), with all instruction in English, and undertaken in Australia while holding a study-authorising visa.

The Tribunal found that Dr. Kolluru held a specified qualification (Doctor of Philosophy) conferred by a specified educational institution (Macquarie University). However, the critical issue was the date of completion of his study for the purpose of the Australian study requirement. The applicant contended that the University's course completion letter, dated 22 November 2017, did not account for further actions required to finalise his thesis. The Tribunal concluded that the date of final acceptance of the thesis, rather than the date of the course completion letter, was the relevant date for determining the completion of his study.

Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the applications for reconsideration by the Department, with a direction that Dr. Kolluru met the criterion under cl.485.231 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations. The applications of his family members would be determined by reference to the outcome of Dr. Kolluru's reconsidered application.