Zemura (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for a Visitor (Class FA) visa, subclass 600, made by an applicant who did not hold a substantive visa at the time of application. The applicant had last held a substantive visa which expired on 10 February 2021, and was subsequently granted a bridging visa on 1 June 2021. The application for the subclass 600 visa was lodged on 2 September 2021, while the applicant held the bridging visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied the Schedule 3 criteria, specifically criterion 3001, as required by clause 600.223 of the Migration Regulations 1994. Clause 600.223(2) mandates that if an applicant is in Australia, does not hold a substantive visa, and their last substantive visa was not a Subclass 403 (Temporary Work (International Relations)) visa in the Domestic Worker (Diplomatic or Consular) stream, they must satisfy Schedule 3 criteria 3001, 3003, 3004, and 3005.

The Tribunal found that criterion 3001 requires an application for the visa to be lodged within 28 days of the "relevant day," as defined in the regulations. In this case, the applicant conceded that their application was not made within 28 days of their last substantive visa ceasing to be in effect. As the applicant failed to satisfy criterion 3001, they did not meet the applicable criteria for the grant of a Subclass 600 visa. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the visa.