Nguyen (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for review of a decision not to grant a Subclass 500 (Student) visa. The applicant, a 40-year-old male from Vietnam, had been in Australia on a series of bridging visas since 2013. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal, constituted by Member Steven Griffiths, was required to determine whether the applicant met the criteria for the visa.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the primary criteria for a Subclass 500 (Student) visa, specifically cl.500.211 of the Regulations. This clause requires an applicant to be enrolled in a course of study, or meet alternative criteria relating to postgraduate thesis marking or Foreign Affairs support, none of which were claimed by the applicant. The Tribunal also considered the definition of "course of study" and "registered course" as provided in the Regulations.

The Tribunal reasoned that the applicant had not provided any information demonstrating current enrolment in a course of study, which is a fundamental requirement under cl.500.211. Despite acknowledging correspondence from the applicant indicating that information was being gathered and a course of interest had been identified, the Tribunal found no details of actual enrolment. Consequently, the Tribunal could not be satisfied that the applicant met the visa criteria.

Accordingly, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a Subclass 500 (Student) visa.