Sng (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal to the Tribunal by an applicant for a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, Subclass 485 (Temporary Graduate) – post-study work stream. The applicant sought review of the Department's decision not to grant the visa.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the requirements of clause 485.212 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994. This clause mandates that an application for this visa must be accompanied by evidence of either holding a specified passport or having undertaken an English language test within a specified period and achieved a specified score, in accordance with an instrument.

The Tribunal considered the applicant's Singaporean passport, finding it was not of a type specified in the relevant instrument (IMMI 15/062), thus failing clause 485.212(b). The Tribunal then examined clause 485.212(a), which requires evidence of an English language test. The applicant had provided results from an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test taken on 19 January 2019. However, the visa application had been lodged on 7 January 2019. The Tribunal held that because the English language test was undertaken after the visa application was lodged, it did not satisfy the requirement that the application be "accompanied by evidence" of the test results meeting the specified criteria at the time of lodgement.

Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not meet the requirements of clause 485.212 and therefore did not satisfy the criteria for the grant of a Subclass 485 visa. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the visa.