Nguyen (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal before the Tribunal regarding a Prospective Marriage (Temporary) (Class TO) visa, Subclass 300. The core dispute revolved around whether there was any impediment to the marriage under Australian law, as required by clause 300.221A of Schedule 2 to the Regulations. The Tribunal considered evidence that had not been available to the original decision-maker.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine if an impediment to the marriage existed in Australian law at the time of the decision. This required assessing the marital status of both the visa applicant and the review applicant, specifically whether either party was already married to another person in a way that would invalidate the proposed marriage.

The Tribunal reasoned that it had been presented with substantial evidence concerning the marital status of the parties. This included documents from Hong Kong evidencing the dissolution of the visa applicant's first marriage, and a divorce order from the Federal Circuit Court of Australia confirming the termination of his second marriage. The Tribunal was also satisfied, based on the evidence, that the review applicant was not a party to any other valid marriage. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that there was no impediment to the proposed marriage under Australian law.

The Tribunal remitted the application for the visa for reconsideration by the Minister, with a direction that the visa applicant met the criterion under clause 300.221A.