Sodhi (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewed a decision by a delegate of the Department of Home Affairs to refuse an Indian citizen, the applicant, a Student (Temporary) (Class TU) visa, subclass 500. The applicant had been in Australia since August 2014 on a series of student and bridging visas. The delegate's decision to refuse the visa application, made on 18 November 2019, was the subject of the tribunal's review.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the genuine temporary entrant (GTE) criterion for the student visa. This involved assessing the applicant's history of academic progress, or lack thereof, over an extended period of study in Australia, and determining if his intentions were genuinely to study temporarily in Australia.

The Tribunal considered extensive documentation, including the delegate's decision, the applicant's visa application, oral evidence, written submissions, and various enrolment and academic records. While the applicant provided evidence of completing a Certificate III in Commercial Cookery in May 2021, the Tribunal noted a pattern of extended periods without academic progress and the cancellation of multiple course enrolments. The applicant's academic history included an English course in 2014, followed by multiple attempts at Certificate IV in Business, Diploma of Management, Diploma of Leadership and Management, and a Bachelor of Business, with significant interruptions and transfers between institutions. The Tribunal found that the applicant had been unable to complete any of the courses he had commenced over an extended period, which weighed against him meeting the GTE criterion.

The Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision to refuse the student visa application.