Mohammed Hunais (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr Mohammed Hunais against the refusal of his application for a Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) in the graduate workstream. The application was refused by the delegate because Mr Hunais did not satisfy the English language requirement. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to review this decision.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Mr Hunais had met the English language proficiency requirement as stipulated by regulation 485.212 of the Migration Regulations 1994. This regulation requires applicants to provide evidence of having undertaken a specified English language test and achieved a minimum score within the three years immediately preceding the date of application, or alternatively, to hold a passport from a specified English-speaking country.

The Tribunal found that Mr Hunais had provided the results of an IELTS test taken on 29 June 2019. However, his score of 4.5 in the reading component fell below the minimum requirement of 5 in each component. The Tribunal also noted that Mr Hunais did not hold a passport from one of the specified English-speaking countries. The Tribunal reasoned that the English language requirement is a mandatory criterion that must be satisfied at the time of application, and evidence of this satisfaction must accompany the application. Therefore, any future test results obtained after the application date would not rectify the deficiency.

The Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision to refuse the visa application.