Nguyen (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for review of a delegate's decision to refuse a Visitor (Class FA) visa, Subclass 600, to a male applicant from Vietnam. The review applicant, who was the visa applicant's spouse, sought to have the delegate's decision set aside by the Tribunal. The visa applicant had applied for the visa on 9 September 2019, seeking to satisfy the primary criteria in the Sponsored Family stream. The delegate refused the visa on 28 October 2019, finding that the applicant did not meet clause 600.211 of the Migration Regulations 1994.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the visa applicant met the criteria for the grant of the Visitor visa, specifically considering the applicant's location at the time of the decision. The Tribunal also had to consider whether the applicant satisfied the circumstances applicable to the grant of the visa under clause 600.412, which required the applicant to be offshore at the time of the visa grant.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the visa applicant's onshore status in Australia. The applicant had arrived in Australia on 7 March 2020 on a provisional partner visa and remained in Australia. The Tribunal noted that the visitor visa application was lodged while the applicant was offshore, and a requirement for this visa subclass was that the applicant be offshore at the time of the visa grant. As the applicant was onshore, the Tribunal was not satisfied that he met the circumstances applicable to the grant of the visa under clause 600.412. Consequently, it was unnecessary for the Tribunal to consider whether the applicant satisfied clause 600.211.

The Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision to refuse to grant the Visitor (Class FA) visa.