At the time of applying for a visa, it is paramount to understand the time of application criteria and provide the right documentation when you make an application.
The Department of Home Affairs will assess the documents that must be available at the time of application for certain visas such as skilled, and employer nominated visas.
Not providing the right documents at the time the visa application may result in your visa application being refused.
For many visas, specially in the Skilled and Nominated Visas group, Evidence of English Test results are one of the required documents to be provided at time of application.
Therefore, it is very important to have a valid and recent English test result with the right score and provide this with your visa application.
By way of example recent case in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal where a decision to refuse a subclass 186 Employer Nomination Scheme (Permanent) visa was affirmed, and the reason for that is that the applicant did not provide an English language test result at the time the visa was applied for – The Case can be found here: Weerasinghe Mudiyanselage (Migration) [2023] AATA 212 (3 February 2023) – link:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/AATA/2023/212.html
Having a closer look at the specific regulations, the Department of Home Affairs requires the applicant for a 186 Employer Nomination Scheme (Permanent) visa to demonstrate Competent English at the time of applying for this visa, unless the applicant is holder of a passport from the United States, Canada, UK, Ireland, or New Zealand, or having completed studies in English equivalent of 5 years.
In this case the applicant did not hold a passport from the above mentioned countries, nor did the applicant complete studies in English. The applicant failed to provide favourable test results.
In this case, the applicant was close to turning 45 years old, which is the cut off age to apply for the visa. She argued that after failing to obtain the required English test results and being stressed, decided to make the application. The client had provided the passed English Test results after having submitted the application.
It is noted that this applicant:
has impressive educational achievements, including a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, both attained in Australia.
She has been consistently recognised by her employer for her outstanding achievements and performance, including Nurse of the Year in 2020 and certificates of recognition in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
She is a highly regarded Registered Nurse (Mental Health) and has been employed by Brisbane Waters Private Hospital (part of the Health Care group), a regionally based healthcare facility, since 2017.
She is a Registered Nurse with general registration with AHPRA. That body has a higher English language requirement for registration (Proficient) than that required of the visa subclass which she was refused on the basis of not having Competent English. She has been registered with AHPRA since 2016.
She holds a positive skill assessment from the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC), the appointed skill assessment authority for Registered Nurses.
Her employer has advised that she is a critical and valued member of the healthcare team at the hospital and would be very difficult to replace, were she unable to remain in Australia.
She has achieved the required English score since the visa application was lodged and is clearly fully competent. This is supported by the fact that she has undertaken 8 years of tertiary education in Australia, and has lived and worked here since 2007.
Despite all these great attributes, the Department of Home Affairs was unable to grant a visa when the specific requirements were not initially met.
The Tribunal affirmed the decision. This means the visa was not granted.
This is a clear example of the high importance of complying with the specific requirements and the specific times to provide the Department the documentation necessary when applying for a visa.