Zhao (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of Yixuan Zhao, who sought review of a decision not to grant a Skilled (Provisional) (Class VC) visa, specifically the Temporary Graduate visa (Subclass 485) Post-Study Work stream. The central dispute concerned whether Ms. Zhao satisfied the Australian study requirement within the prescribed timeframe for her Doctor of Philosophy.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine whether Ms. Zhao met the criteria stipulated in clause 485.231 of the Migration Regulations 1994. This clause requires an applicant to hold a specified qualification and to have satisfied the Australian study requirement in the six months immediately preceding the visa application, or in the twelve months if an exception applied due to being outside Australia during a specific period in 2020. The Tribunal had to ascertain the correct date for assessing the satisfaction of this requirement in the context of a doctoral thesis submission.

The Tribunal reasoned that the Australian study requirement was not satisfied by the mere acknowledgement of receipt of Ms. Zhao's thesis by the Australian National University on 22 September 2020. The correspondence from the university explicitly stated that the thesis had been dispatched for examination, that the examination process typically took three to four months, and that amendments might be requested. Crucially, the letter indicated that the examination process had not yet been completed. Therefore, the Tribunal concluded that the course completion date, for the purposes of satisfying the Australian study requirement, had not yet been reached at the relevant time.

Consequently, the Tribunal found that Ms. Zhao did not meet the criteria under clause 485.231 for the grant of a Subclass 485 visa. As this was the only relevant visa subclass in question, the Tribunal affirmed the original decision not to grant the visa.