SAFI (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr Safi against a decision not to grant him a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate). The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was required to determine whether Mr Safi met the criteria for the visa, specifically concerning English language proficiency.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Mr Safi satisfied clause 485.212 of the Migration Regulations 1994. This clause requires applicants to either hold a specified passport or provide evidence of having undertaken an approved English language test within a specified period and achieving minimum scores. The relevant legislative instrument, IMMI 15/062, detailed the acceptable tests, scores, and passport types.

The Tribunal found that Mr Safi, being a national of Afghanistan, did not hold a passport from one of the specified countries, thus failing to meet subclause 485.212(b). Consequently, he was required to satisfy subclause 485.212(a). The evidence from the online application form indicated that Mr Safi had responded negatively to questions about holding a specified passport or having undertaken an English language test within the preceding three years. Although Mr Safi later provided an IELTS test result from 4 August 2018, this test was undertaken after his visa application was lodged. While the Tribunal acknowledged Mr Safi's observation about the absence of validation prompts during the electronic application process, it concluded that it did not have sufficient information to be satisfied that unique or compelling circumstances existed to refer the matter to the Minister.

Accordingly, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant Mr Safi the Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa.