Tim (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a Subclass 143 Contributory Parent visa. The applicants sought review of a decision not to grant them this visa. The central issue revolved around whether the applicants satisfied the "balance of family test," a key criterion for this visa subclass.

The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicants had established that at least half of their eligible children were either Australian citizens, permanent residents, or ordinarily resident in Australia. This involved assessing the status and location of their children, including one who had died in a third country after losing contact, and another who was adopted. The Tribunal also had to consider the timing of events, specifically whether a deceased child was alive at the time the visa application was made.

The Tribunal reasoned that the deceased child was alive at the time of the visa application, and therefore, the remaining adopted child was to be included in the balance of family calculation. However, even with this inclusion, the Tribunal found that the applicants did not meet the requirement that at least half of their eligible children were settled in Australia. The Tribunal noted that it had no discretion to recommend the grant of the visa given the failure to meet this criterion. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the original decision not to grant the visa.