Leong (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of an applicant seeking review of a decision not to grant a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate). The central dispute concerned whether the applicant satisfied the Australian study requirement for the visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine if the applicant met the requirements of clause 485.231 of the Migration Regulations, which mandates that the applicant's study must have satisfied the 'Australian study requirement' in the six months immediately preceding the visa application. This required the Tribunal to ascertain the correct date of the applicant's course completion.

The Tribunal found that the applicant had provided conflicting dates for the completion of her Bachelor of Professional Accounting course at the Holmes Institute. These dates included 12 March 2018, 15 March 2018, and 16 March 2018. The applicant's visa application was filed on 20 September 2018. The Tribunal observed that regardless of which of these dates was considered the completion date, each fell outside the six-month period immediately prior to the visa application. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not meet the Australian study requirement as stipulated by clause 485.231.

Based on these findings, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant the Subclass 485 visa, as she failed to satisfy the criteria for its grant.