Parirehwa (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr Parirehwa against a decision regarding his application for a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485, specifically the Graduate Work stream. The core of the dispute revolved around whether the applicant had met the mandatory requirement of having applied for a skills assessment for his nominated occupation, Accountant, at the time of lodging his visa application.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant satisfied the criteria for the Graduate Work stream, particularly clause 485.223 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations, which mandates the provision of evidence of an application for a skills assessment by a relevant assessing authority for the nominated skilled occupation. Additionally, the Tribunal considered whether it was confined to assessing the application solely against the nominated stream or if it could consider an alternative stream, the Post-Study Work stream, in light of previous remittals by the Federal Circuit Court.

The Tribunal found that the applicant had not applied for a skills assessment at the time of lodging his visa application, as evidenced by his response to the relevant question on the online form. This failure meant he did not satisfy the requirements of clause 485.223. However, drawing on previous Federal Circuit Court decisions, the Tribunal determined that it was not confined to the nominated stream and could consider the applicant's substantial compliance with the application form for the Post-Study Work stream. Based on this, the Tribunal found that the applicant met the requirements of clause 485.231(1) of Schedule 2 to the Regulations.

Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the application for a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa for reconsideration by the Minister, with the direction that the applicant meets the criteria specified in clause 485.231(1) of Schedule 2 to the Regulations.