Swanepoel-Trollip (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal by the applicant, Mr Swanepoel-Trollip, against the decision not to grant him and his family (the secondary applicants) a Regional Employer Nomination (Permanent) (Class RN) visa, subclass 187, Direct Entry stream. The primary issue was whether the applicant met the English language proficiency requirement for the visa.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant had demonstrated "competent English" at the time of his visa application, as stipulated by clause 187.232 of the Migration Regulations 1994 and relevant legislative instruments. Specifically, the Tribunal had to assess if the applicant had achieved the requisite score in a specified English language test within the three years preceding his application, or if he held a passport from a specified country.

The Tribunal found that the applicant did not meet the English language requirement. While the applicant held a South African passport, which did not satisfy the alternative criterion of holding a passport from a specified country, his IELTS test results from 20 July 2017, submitted with his visa application on 30 November 2017, did not meet the minimum score of 6 in each of the four components as required by IMMI 15/005. A subsequent PTE Academic test taken after the application was lodged was therefore irrelevant. The Tribunal noted it had no discretion to waive this mandatory requirement.

Consequently, as the applicant failed to meet the primary visa criteria, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the subclass 187 visas to the applicant and his family.