Mohammed (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an appeal by an applicant from India concerning a decision not to grant him a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, specifically the Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) visa under the Post-Study Work stream. The applicant sought to have the Tribunal review the decision that he did not meet the requirements for this visa.

The central legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant held a qualification specified by the Minister for the purposes of the visa, and whether his study for that qualification met the 'Australian study requirement'. The applicant had undertaken an Advanced Diploma of Business and a Master of Management for Engineers. The Tribunal was required to determine if these qualifications, and the study undertaken for them, satisfied the criteria outlined in clause 485.231 of the Migration Regulations 1994 and the associated instrument, IMMI 13/013.

The Tribunal reasoned that clause 485.231(1) requires the applicant to hold a qualification specified by the Minister, which must be at Australian Qualifications Framework level seven or higher. The specified qualifications included Bachelor Degrees, Master Degrees, and Doctoral Degrees. The Tribunal found that the applicant's Advanced Diploma of Business, the last qualification undertaken, was not a qualification specified in the relevant instrument. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not meet the criteria under clause 485.231(1).

As the applicant failed to meet the primary qualification requirement, the Tribunal found that he did not satisfy the criteria for the grant of a Subclass 485 visa. Accordingly, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant the visa.