Le (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr. Le against the cancellation of his Student (Temporary) (Class TU) Subclass 500 visa. The Department of Home Affairs had cancelled Mr. Le's visa due to his failure to maintain course enrolment, a breach of a visa condition. Mr. Le contended that his non-compliance was due to exceptional circumstances beyond his control, including personal difficulties and a natural disaster in his home town. He also admitted to breaching a 'no work' condition to support his family.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether Mr. Le had breached a condition of his visa and, if so, whether to exercise its discretion to cancel the visa. The Tribunal also considered whether Mr. Le was a genuine student and whether he would comply with visa conditions if his visa were not cancelled. The Tribunal was to have regard to matters raised by the applicant and relevant government policy guidelines.

The Tribunal found that Mr. Le had not complied with condition 8516 of his visa by failing to maintain enrolment in an eligible course. While Mr. Le provided a letter detailing personal difficulties, financial hardship, and a typhoon in Vietnam affecting his family's business and home, the Tribunal found no evidence to substantiate the claimed natural disaster. Furthermore, Mr. Le failed to attend the scheduled hearing, and the Tribunal was not satisfied that his non-compliance was due to circumstances beyond his control. The Tribunal also expressed doubts as to whether Mr. Le was a genuine student or would uphold visa conditions.

Weighing the factors, the Tribunal concluded that the degree of non-compliance was significant and that the reasons provided for extenuating circumstances were not credible. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision to cancel Mr. Le's Subclass 500 visa.