Ramos (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal by Ms Ramos against a decision affirming the refusal of her Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485. The appeal was heard by Katie Malyon in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Ms Ramos satisfied the English language proficiency requirements as stipulated by cl.485.212 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994. This clause requires applicants to either hold a passport from a specified country or provide evidence of achieving minimum scores in a designated English language test within a prescribed period.

The Tribunal considered that Ms Ramos, a national of the Philippines, did not hold a passport from the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, or the Republic of Ireland, thus failing to meet cl.485.212(b). Consequently, she was required to satisfy cl.485.212(a), which mandates evidence of an English language test taken within three years prior to the visa application, with specific minimum scores. While Ms Ramos indicated she had undertaken an Occupational English Language (OET) test on 13 January 2018 and uploaded results for tests taken on 2 September 2017 and 13 January 2018, the Tribunal found that the provided documentation did not demonstrate she achieved the specified minimum scores within the required three-year period preceding her application.

The Tribunal concluded that Ms Ramos had not met the English language proficiency requirements for the Subclass 485 visa. Accordingly, the decision under review was affirmed.