Mohamed Bashir (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal by Mohamed Bashir against a decision not to grant a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485. The core of the dispute revolved around the applicant's compliance with a specific visa requirement concerning an Australian Federal Police (AFP) check. The decision was made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had satisfied the mandatory requirement under clause 485.213 of the Migration Regulations 1994. This clause stipulated that a visa application must be accompanied by evidence that the applicant, and any other person included in the application aged 16 or over, had applied for an AFP check within the 12 months immediately preceding the date of the visa application. The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicant had met this criterion at the time of lodging her application.

The Tribunal found that the applicant had not applied for an AFP check within the 12 months prior to lodging her visa application on 8 August 2018. While the applicant did obtain an AFP check dated 30 August 2018, this was after the application date and therefore outside the prescribed period. The Tribunal noted that there was no discretion available to overlook this mandatory requirement, regardless of the applicant's stated reasons for the oversight, such as a misunderstanding of the requirement's mandatory nature. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not meet the criteria for the grant of the visa.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant the Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa.