Mendis (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an appeal by an applicant concerning the refusal of a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate). The primary dispute centred on whether the applicant had provided sufficient evidence of holding adequate health insurance at the time of lodging the visa application, as required by clause 485.215 of Schedule 2 of the Migration Regulations 1994.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criteria under cl.485.215, which mandates that a visa application must be accompanied by evidence of adequate health insurance arrangements at the time of application and that such arrangements must continue from the time of application. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if the evidence of health insurance, provided to the Tribunal but not to the Department of Home Affairs at the time of application, met the requirement of being "accompanied by" the application.

The Tribunal acknowledged that the applicant did hold Overseas Student Health Cover from 4 September 2017 until 3 April 2018, which covered the period of the visa application lodged on 30 January 2018. However, the applicant had declared "No" to holding health insurance on the application form and did not submit the certificate of insurance to the Department at that time. Citing *Anand v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship* [2013] FCA 1050, the Tribunal held that while evidence submitted shortly after lodging an application might be considered to have "accompanied" it, the five-month delay in this instance was too significant. The Tribunal concluded that the intention of the regulations was for the relevant evidence to be submitted with or at the same time as the application, and that the applicant had failed to satisfy this criterion.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant the Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa.