Rivera (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of an applicant seeking a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) in the Graduate Work stream. The applicant's claim for the visa was based on meeting the criteria outlined in clause 485.223 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations, which pertains to the applicant's skills in relation to their nominated skilled occupation.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had provided sufficient evidence, at the time of their visa application, that they had applied for a skills assessment from the relevant assessing authority for their nominated occupation. Specifically, the applicant nominated 'Chef' as their skilled occupation, and for this occupation, Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) is designated as the relevant assessing authority. The applicant had initially declared applying for a skills assessment with TAFE Queensland, and later provided a receipt from VETASSESS for an online assessment.

The Tribunal reasoned that clause 485.223 requires evidence of an application to the *relevant* assessing authority. As TAFE Queensland and VETASSESS were not the designated assessing bodies for the occupation of Chef, the applicant had failed to satisfy this criterion. The Tribunal noted that while the applicant provided documents such as employment certificates, performance reviews, and payslips to demonstrate their skills and experience as a Chef, these documents did not fulfil the specific requirement of having applied to the correct assessing authority at the time of the visa application. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the visa.