Salarmehr (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of Salarmehr, an applicant for a Skilled Independent (Permanent) visa (Subclass 189). The dispute centred on whether the applicant met the points test criterion for the visa, specifically concerning the score achieved in relation to the invitation to apply and the qualifying score.

The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicant satisfied the points test criterion, which mandates that an applicant's score must be not less than the score stated in their invitation to apply and not less than the 'qualifying score'. This involved assessing the applicant's qualifications and points against Schedule 6D to the Regulations, and considering the pass mark in force at the time of the delegate's assessment and the Tribunal's assessment, applying whichever was more favourable. The applicant had nominated the occupation of Software Engineer.

The Tribunal reasoned that points were available for age, and the applicant, aged 32 at the time of invitation, was entitled to 30 points. Further, points were available for English language proficiency, and the applicant's PTE English test score of 75 met the minimum requirement of 65. Based on these assessments, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant was entitled to a maximum of 80 points under the points test. As this score was not less than the invitation score and not less than the qualifying score, the applicant satisfied the relevant criterion.

Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the application for the Skilled Independent (Permanent) visa for reconsideration, with the direction that the applicant meets the criterion specified in cl.189.224 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations.