Tipan (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal regarding a decision not to grant the applicant a Subclass 500 (Student) visa. The applicant sought to have the decision under review affirmed.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the criteria for a Subclass 500 visa, specifically whether the applicant was enrolled in a full-time registered course of study at the time of the decision, as required by clause 500.211(a) of the Regulations.

The Tribunal reasoned that a "course of study" for the purposes of the visa application is defined as a "full-time registered course". It further explained that a "registered course" is one provided by an institution registered under the *Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000* (Cth). The Tribunal noted that the Provider Registration and International Student Management System (PRISMS) is a system maintained by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, and used by the Department of Home Affairs, to record and verify student enrolments. The Tribunal accepted PRISMS as a reliable record of enrolments in the absence of contrary evidence. In this case, the PRISMS record indicated that the applicant was not enrolled in a course of study at the time of the decision. Consequently, the Tribunal was not satisfied that clause 500.211(a) was met.

As the applicant did not claim to meet any alternative criteria for the Subclass 500 visa or the criteria for a Subclass 590 (Student Guardian) visa, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a Student (Temporary) (Class TU) visa.