MIGRATION - Visitor (Class FA) visa - Subclass 600 (Visitor) - genuine temporary entrant - evidence of the applicant's financial and personal situation - previous extensively compliant travel - husband's temporary employment in Australia - family commitments in home country - decision under review set aside and remitted

Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 (Cth), s 106

Migration Act 1958 (Cth), s 65

Migration Regulations 1994, Schedule 2, cl 600.212

1. This is an application for review of a decision made by a delegate of the Minister to refuse to grant the applicant a Visitor (Class FA) visa under s 65 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (the Act). The applicant applied for the visa on 23 January 2024. The delegate refused to grant the visa on 27 February 2024.
2. The delegate made the decision on the basis that evidence of the applicant's financial and personal situation in the United Kingdom had not been provided to satisfy a criterion for the grant of the visa under the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) (the Regulations).
3. This is an unusual decision to review as the applicant has now been granted a Sponsored (Family) Visitor visa and is already in Australia. She and her husband felt aggrieved by the Departmental decision and wanted to ensure the applicant did not have a migration record that reflected a visa refusal, when from their perspective, the refusal was unjustified and unfair. At the time of primary review, the applicant had not submitted a significant amount of evidence which the Tribunal has now sighted, and which means the Tribunal can go to decision without a hearing.
4. The applicant was born in Greece and is now a national of the United Kingdom (UK) and achieved a Master's Degree there. She has travelled extensively to see siblings and other family members, always in compliance of her visa conditions. The evidence shows that the applicant's husband worked in Leeds as a medical professional, having worked in surgery in the UK since 2004 and then entered higher speciality in surgical training and passed his fellowship exams in Trauma and Orthopaedics. He was given the opportunity to work in Australia for 12 months at Sydney Westmead Children's Hospital working as a Foot and Ankle Orthopaedic Fellow. His intention is to return to the UK along with his wife and children on completion of his term in Australia. The applicant's husband came to Australia with their children.
5. The applicant is a housewife looking after their children; however, significant material has been provided to the Tribunal that as the main breadwinner her husband supports her to meet her daily living expenses and more. They also purchased a home in the UK and their financial situation could be described as better than stable. The visa applicant, given her husband's temporary posting in Australia, considered that the Visitor visa would be the most appropriate way to reunite the family given the temporary nature of her husband's work here. It has been declared that the applicant's husband has a genuine intention to stay in Australia temporarily, as other British surgeons who come to Australia to do a fellowship in their speciality do.
6. Moreover, the applicant does not wish to migrate to Australia permanently because family such as her siblings live in the UK and other places that are much more accessible than Australia.
7. In making its decision the Tribunal has relied also on the credibility of the applicant and her husband who simply wanted the family to be reunited while the applicant's husband pursues an opportunity to work and contribute to Australian society.
8. In light of the new evidence received, the Tribunal is satisfied that the criterion is met, and the appropriate course is to set the decision aside and remit the visa application for reconsideration.
9. In reaching its decision the Tribunal did not consider a hearing to be necessary. The issues in the proceeding could be adequately determined without a hearing, and the Tribunal was able to find wholly in favour of the applicant on the basis of the material before it, pursuant to s 106(3) of the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 (Cth).

1. The Tribunal sets aside the decision under review and remits the application for reconsideration, in accordance with the order that the applicant meets the following criteria for a Subclass 600 (Class FA) visa:
   • cl 600.212 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations