Liu (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewed a decision to cancel the visa of the applicant, Mr. Liu. The applicant held a Student (Temporary) (class TU) (subclass 573) visa, which was subject to condition 8202. The dispute centred on whether the applicant had breached this condition by failing to be enrolled in a registered course of study for a significant period.

The Tribunal was required to determine two primary issues: first, whether the applicant had breached condition 8202 of his visa by not being enrolled in a registered course of study from 8 October 2016; and second, if a breach had occurred, whether his visa should be cancelled under section 116(1)(b) of the Migration Act 1958. The applicant conceded he was not enrolled in a registered course between October 2016 and March 2017, but sought to explain this by claiming he was unable to be released from his Bachelor of Engineering course at Macquarie University to enrol in a new IT course.

The Tribunal accepted the applicant's explanation that difficulties with the engineering course content led to his delayed completion of the Diploma of Engineering on 8 October 2016, which in turn prevented him from commencing the Bachelor of Engineering course as scheduled. However, the Tribunal found that the cancellation of his enrolment in the Bachelor of Engineering course by Macquarie University on 18 March 2016 meant that the university could not have prevented him from enrolling in another course from a different provider from that date onwards. Despite this, the Tribunal considered evidence of the applicant's genuine desire to complete his studies in Australia, including his subsequent offer of enrolment in an IT course. The Tribunal concluded that the decision to cancel the applicant's visa should be set aside.