Singh v Minister for Home Affairs

Singh v Minister for Home Affairs is an appeal against a decision of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, which had dismissed an application for review of a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the Tribunal). The Tribunal had affirmed a decision of a delegate of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to refuse the appellant a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) Visa. The appellant, an Indian citizen residing in Australia, applied for the visa on 29 June 2017, nominating his occupation as a chef. The delegate refused the application on 16 August 2017, on the basis that the appellant’s Advanced Diploma in Marketing was not closely related to his nominated skilled occupation. The Tribunal affirmed the delegate’s decision, and the appellant appealed to the FCC.

The central legal issue was whether the Tribunal had erred in finding that the appellant’s Advanced Diploma in Marketing was not closely related to his occupation as a chef. The appellant argued that the Tribunal had adopted an unduly narrow approach in assessing the relationship between the marketing qualification and the occupation of chef. The Minister submitted that the appellant’s grounds of appeal lacked particularity and that the FCC had properly considered the grounds and the relevant criteria.

The Federal Circuit Court held that the appellant had not demonstrated any error in the Tribunal’s reasons that might have vitiated its conclusion. The Tribunal’s finding that the tasks of a chef were not closely related to the coursework undertaken in the Diploma of Marketing was open on the evidence before it, and its findings of fact were supported by probative evidence. The appellant had failed to show that the Tribunal had erred in its assessment of whether the marketing qualification was closely related to the occupation of chef. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed, and the appellant was ordered to pay the respondents’ costs of the appeal.