Vo (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for review of a decision by a delegate of the Minister to refuse to grant Ms Vo a Regional Employer Nomination (Permanent) (Class RN) visa, specifically Subclass 187. The primary dispute revolved around whether Ms Vo met the secondary criteria for the visa, which required her to be a member of the family unit of Mr Nguyen, the primary visa holder. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the matter.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether Ms Vo was a "member of the family unit" of Mr Nguyen, as defined by Regulation 1.12 of the Migration Regulations 1994. This definition required Ms Vo to be a relative of Mr Nguyen, not have a spouse or de facto partner, be usually resident in Mr Nguyen’s household, and be dependent on him. The Tribunal was specifically tasked with determining if Ms Vo satisfied these criteria at the time of the decision.

The Tribunal found that Ms Vo was indeed the mother of Mr Nguyen, based on documentary evidence including a birth certificate, divorce order, change of name certificate, and a DNA test. It was also satisfied that Ms Vo did not have a spouse or de facto partner, having been divorced since 1990. However, the Tribunal did not make findings on whether Ms Vo was usually resident in Mr Nguyen’s household or dependent on him, as these issues were not fully explored in the provided text. Consequently, the Tribunal remitted the application for reconsideration by the Minister, with a direction that Ms Vo met the criteria under cl.187.311 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations.