Owais (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485, specifically the Post Study Work stream. The applicant sought to have their application assessed against the criteria for this stream, rather than the Graduate Work stream they had initially nominated. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to determine whether the applicant's visa application could be assessed against the Post Study Work stream criteria and, if so, whether those criteria were met.

The Tribunal considered whether an applicant, having nominated one stream in their visa application, could subsequently have their application assessed against a different stream. The Tribunal noted that the regulations did not expressly prohibit such an assessment. It also referred to its own previous decision in *Prajapati* [2021] AATA 2543, which considered relevant Federal Circuit Court and Tribunal decisions. These authorities suggested that an application could be assessed against a different stream if there was substantial compliance with the visa application form, and the Tribunal was satisfied on the evidence that the application was in fact for that alternative stream.

Applying this reasoning, the Tribunal found that it was open to consider the applicant against the Post-Study Work stream criteria. The Tribunal concluded that the applicant met criterion cl.485.231 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations. Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the visa application to the Minister for reconsideration, with the direction that the applicant met this specific criterion.