Waiving A 3-Year Ban And Conditions Of A Bridging Visa E

Did you know that there are certain circumstances where you may be subject to an exclusion period, or what’s commonly referred to as a re-entry ban? This means that for a specified period, you cannot be granted a futher visa to Australia. In the most serious cases, you can even be excluded from Australia permanently.

Exclusion periods are contained in Public Interest Criteria (PIC) and Special Return Criteria (SRC), as prescribed in the Migration Regulations. An exclusion period prevents affected individuals from being granted certain visas to travel to, enter, and remain in Australia, except if certain exceptions apply. The period of exclusion from Australia will depend on the PIC or SRC that is applied in your circumstances. Up to a 3 year ban Australia visa can be imposed, or permanent exclusion.

PIC 4013 and 4014 both impose a 3 year ban Australia visa. SRC 5002 imposes a 12 month re-entry ban, and under SRC 5010, the exclusion period is 2 years. SRC 5001 imposes the most serious re-entry ban, being permanent exclusion from Australia.

You may also have heard of a Bridging Visa E (BVE)? Well, a bridging visa E 3 year ban also comes into play in that if you leave Australia as the holder of a BVE, you will be banned from Australia for 3 years under PIC 4014 (unless an exception applies, or the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) exercises a waiver to grant you the visa).

In this article, we discuss the various exclusion period provisions that are contained in the legislation, how and when they apply, and in what circumstances an exclusion period can be waived, including an Australian 3 year ban waiver, by the Department. We also illustrate how an exclusion period is applied in practice with a real-life example of our client, Julie, and how we assisted her to have her 3 year re-entry ban Australia waived, which enabled her to be granted a subsequent student visa. In Julie’s case, a bridging visa e 3 year ban under PIC 4014 applied because she departed Australia as a BVE holder. We also take a look at how BVE conditions are relevant both at the visa grant stage (as a criterion for grant of a BVE), and the actual conditions that may be imposed if the BVE is granted for the purpose of making arrangements to depart Australia.

Let us begin our discussion by outlining the exclusion period provisions that may apply.

What Are The Exclusion Period Provisions?

Exclusion periods are contained in Schedules 4 and 5 of the Migration provisions and are outlined below.

PIC 4013

Under PIC 4013, if you are affacted by a prescribed risk factor, you cannot be granted a visa unless three years have passed since your previous visa was cancelled. This effectively means that you are banned from Australia for 3 years.

Australian 3 Year Ban Waiver

This is the case unless the Department is satisfied, in your particular case, that:

• compelling circumstances affecting the interests of Australia; or
• compassionate or compelling circumstances affecting the interests of an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen;

justify granting the visa within the three year exclusion period.

If the Department decides to grant you the visa within the exclusion period, this means it has applied an Australian 3 year ban waiver.

What Are The PIC 4013 Risk Factors?

PIC 4013 prescribes the following circumstances in which a person is affected by a risk factor:

• if their previous visa was cancelled under a prescribed provision (including because they provided incorrect information or bogus documents to the Department or they were found to have worked without authority);
• if they previously held a student visa that was automatically cancelled as a result of breaching a condition relating to attendance or satisfactory academic performance; or
• if their previous visa was cancelled because their presence in Australia is, or may be, a risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian community or a segment of the community; or the health or safety of an individual or individuals.

Therefore, if you are affected by one of the abovementioned risk factors, you will be subject to a 3 year ban Australia visa, unless the Department exercises an Australian 3 year ban waiver of PIC 4013 to grant you the visa.

PIC 4014

The PIC 4014 exclusion period relates to a person’s immigration status at the time of a previous departure from Australia.

Under PIC 4014, if you are affected by a risk factor, you cannot be granted a visa unless three years have passed since you left Australia. This means that you are banned from Australia for 3 years.

Australian 3 Year Ban Waiver

This is the case unless the Department is satisfied, in your particular case, that:

• compelling circumstances affecting the interests of Australia; or
• compassionate or compelling circumstances affecting the interests of an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen;

justify granting the visa within 3 years after your departure.

If the Department decides to grant you the visa within the exclusion period, this means it has applied an Australian 3 year ban waiver.

What Are The PIC 4014 Risk Factors?

PIC 4014 prescribes that a person is affected by a risk factor if they left Australia, either as an unlawful non-citizen, or as the holder of a Bridging Visa C (BVC), Bridging Visa D (BVD) or Bridging Visa E (BVE).

Also note that in regard to your departure from Australia, this can be your most recent departure from Australia, or an earlier departure.

What Is An Unlawful Non Citizen?

You are an unlawful non-citizen if you are onshore and you do not hold a valid visa. This can happen if you remain in Australia past your visa expiry date, that is, you overstay your visa, without another valid visa that is in effect.

What Is A Bridging Visa C (BVC)?

If you apply for a substantive visa in Australia and you do not hold a substantive visa at that time (meaning you either hold a bridging visa or no valid visa), you will be granted a Subclass 030 BVC at time of application.

A substantive visa is any visa excluding a bridging visa, criminal justice or enforcement visa.

A BVC is applied for automatically at time of lodgement of your substantive visa application.

What Is A Bridging Visa D (BVD)?

A BVD provides temporary lawful status to a person who:

• is an unlawful non-citizen (or will become unlawful within 3 days);
• has attempted to, but is unable to, make a valid application in Australia for a substantive visa that can be granted in Australia; and
• will make a valid application for a substantive visa within the next 5 days;
  OR
• is an unlawful non-citizen who is unable to, or does not want to, apply for a substantive visa and an authorised Departmental officer is not available to interview them.

A BVD holder is permitted to remain lawfully in Australia for five working days after grant, or until the grant of a Bridging Visa E (BVE), whichever is the earlier. It does not give the holder permission to work in Australia, or permission to re-enter Australia.

There are two types of BVD’s, as follows:

• Subclass 040 Bridging (Prospective Applicant) – for individuals who attempt to, but are unable to, make a valid application for a substantive visa (due to, for example, not having the correct application form or visa application charge; and
• Subclass 041 Bridging (Non-applicant) – for individuals who are unable to, or who do not wish to, apply for a substantive visa (if, for example, they simply seek to notify Immigration of their arrangementsfor departing Australia) and an authorised officer of the Department is not available to interview them.

What Is A Bridging Visa E (BVE)?

There are two types of BVE’s, as follows:

• Subclass 050 Bridging E (General); and
• Subclass 051 Bridging (Protection Visa Applicant).

A Subclass 050 BVE may be granted to an applicant who does not hold a valid visa (and therefore is an unlawful non-citizen) or holds a BVE or Subclass 041 Bridging (Non-applicant). A BVE may be granted to allow the applicant for a number of reasons, including to:

• make arrangements to leave Australia;
• await the outcome of a substantive visa application;
• await the outcome of an application for judicial review for a refused substantive visa application;
• apply for, or await an outcome from, an AAT review of a decision to cancel their visa;
• await the outcome of an AAT or judicial review of a Citizenship decision; or
• await the outcome of a Ministerial Review decision.

A Subclass 051 BVE is designed to allow an unlawful non-citizen who is an eligible non-citizen to lawfully remain in Australia temporarily while their protection visa application is being assessed.

So, you will be subject to a bridging visa e 3 year ban if you depart Australia as a BVE holder.

BVE Conditions

Conditions are relevant to a BVE at two stages: first as a visa grant criterion and second, when determing what actual conditions should be imposed on a BVE.

As A Requirement For Grant Of A BVE

Note that to be granted a BVE, the Minister (being the Department) must be satisfied that, if a bridging visa E is granted to the applicant, the applicant will abide by the conditions (if any) imposed on it. According to immigration policy, to determine whether this requirement is satisfied, the Department should consider the applicant’s immigration history, any past dealings with the Department and the extent to which the applicant is currently cooperating with the Department. Under policy, Immigration should consider such factors as whether the applicant has breached migration law balanced against the applicant’s current level of cooperation with the department.

BVE Conditions To Be Imposed Where It Is Granted To Make Arrangements To Depart Australia

If the BVE is granted to enable the applicant to make arrangements to depart Australia, under policy, the conditions imposed on previous visas should be reimposed on the BVE.

The Department should also consider imposing the following conditions, depending on the individual circumstances of the individual:

• if the applicant needs to obtain a travel document and a ticket for travel – conditions 8510 (valid passport) and 8511 (valid ticket) should be imposed;
• if the applicant has a ticket to leave Australia – condition 8512 (must leave Australia by a specified date) should be imposed;
• if the visa period of the BVE 050 is more than a few day (that is, if the applicant needs more time in which to make departure arrangements) – condition 8401 (must report at a time and place specified by an officer) should be imposed; and
• if the applicant is unable to leave within a short timeframe – condition 8207 (no study or training) should be imposed.

You can learn more about bridging visas and how they work in our Bridging Visas Australia article.

PIC 4014 Exceptions

Importantly, PIC 4014 provides exceptions, that is, the 3 year re-entry ban Australia does not apply in the following circumstances:

• if you leave Australia as an unlawful non-citizen within 28 days of your substantive visa ceasing to be in effect; or
• if you leave Australia as the holder of a BVC, BVD or BVE, the bridging visa that you held when departing Australia was granted within 28 days of your substantive visa ceasing to be in effect; or
• if you leave Australia as the holder of a BVC, BVD or BVE, the bridging visa that you held when departing Australia was granted whilst you held another bridging visa. That other bridging visa must have been granted while you held a substantive visa, or within 28 days of that substantive visa ceasing.

Therefore, if you are affected by one of the abovementioned risk factors, you will be subject to a 3 year ban Australia visa, unless an exception applies.

If none of the exceptions apply in your case,you will still be subject to a 3 year re-entry ban Australia unless the Department exercises an Australian 3 year ban waiver of PIC 4014 to grant you the visa.

SRC 5001

Under SRC 5001, you cannot be granted a visa if your were deported from Australia under a prescribed provision of the migration provisions, or if you held a visa that was cancelled on certain grounds.

Importantly, please note that if SRC 5001 applies, you would be subject to permanent exclusion from Australia. There are no exceptions or waivers in this case. This means that you can never be granted another Australian visa.

SRC 5002

Under SRC 5002, your cannot be granted the visa if you apply within 12 months of being removed from Australia under a prescribed provision of the Migration Act. Such provisions relate to the removal of unlawful non-citizens and the removal or deportation of the partners and dependent children of an unlawful non-citizen. This means that you are banned from Australia for 1 year.

Waiver

This is the case unless the Department is satisfied, in your particular case, that there are either:

• compelling circumstances that affect the interests of Australia; or
• compassionate or compelling circumstances that affect the interest of an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen;

to justify granting the visa within that 12 month exclusion period.

If the Department decides to grant you the visa within the exclusion period, this means it has applied a waiver.

SRC 5010

This SRC applies to certain holders or former holders of various student visas. It imposes a two-year exclusion to certain holders or former holders of either a Foreign Affairs student visa, or to those receiving financial support from a foreign government.

Under SRC 5010, such individuals cannot be granted a visa unless they have been outside Australia for at least two years since ceasing their course of study or training. This means a ban from Australia for 2 years.

This is the case unless:

• the relevant course was designed to be undertaken over a period of 12 months or less; or
• the relevant course was designed to be undertaken over a period of more than 12 months but either:

1. the Foreign Minister or foreign government that supported the initial visa grant supports the grant of the visa; or
2. the Minister waives the requirement that the Foreign Minister or foreign government supports the grant of the visa.

SRC 5010 prevents a visa from being granted to an applicant who:

• currently holds a Foreign Affairs student visa;
• previously held a Foreign Affairs student visa;
• currently holds a student visa and is provided with financial support by the government of a foreign country; or
• has never held a Foreign Affairs student visa and currently does not hold a substantive visa, and whose most recent substantive visa was a student visa which allowed them to study whilst receiving financial support by the government of a foreign country.

SRC 5010 Exceptions

The following exceptions apply to the above:

• if the relevant course of study or training was designed to be undertaken over 12 months or less;
• if the applicant has spent at least two years outside Australia since ceasing their course of study or training; or
• if the relevant course of study or training was one designed to be undertaken over a period of more than 12 months, unless:

1. the Foreign Minister or the foreign government that provided the financial support for the course of study or training supports the grant of the visa; or
2. the Department is satisfied that waiving the requirement that the Foreign Minister or foreign government supports the grant of the visa due to:
   – compelling circumstances affecting the interests of Australia; or
   – compassionate or compelling circumstances affecting the interests of an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen.

Therefore, if you meet the requirements in SRC 5010, you will be subject to a 2 year ban on being granted another Australian visa, unless an exception applies.

If none of the exceptions apply in your case,you will still be subject to a 2 year re-entry ban to Australia unless the Department exercises a waiver of the requirement that the Foreign Minister or foreign government supports the grant of the visa.

How Is An Exclusion Period Applied?

A visa applicant, who is either onshore or outside Australia, will be subject to an exclusion period if:

• the applicant applies for a visa subclass which prescribes one of the following criterion for grant of the visa:

1. PIC 4013;
2. PIC 4014;
3. SRC 5001;
4. SRC 5002; or
5. SRC 5010;

• the visa applicant is subject to an exclusion period; and
• at the time of deciding whether to grant the visa, the exclusion period has not passed (with the exception of SRC 5001, which imposes permanent exclusion from Australia).

Note that a visa applicant can be subject to more than one exclusion period at the same time.

If an exclusion period applies under PIC 4013 or 4014, or SRC 5002), the Department may consider the individual circumstances of the case to determine whether a waiver should be applied to grant the visa (or in the case of SRC 5010, whether to waive the requirement that the applicant has the support of the Foreign Minister or the foreign government that provided financial support to the applicant during their course of study or training).

Why An Exclusion Period?

According to immigration policy, an exclusion period is generally designed to identify visa applicants who may pose a risk to Australia because of previous breaches of immigration law, as well as to prevent certain persons from entering Australia.

Be mindful that not all visas are subject to the PIC and SRC which impose exclusion periods in certain circumstances. For example, PIC 4013 and 4014 are specified as visa grant criteria for the Subclass 417 Working Holiday visa, but not for a Subclass 309 Partner visa. Note, however, that even though a re-entry ban may not be applicable as a visa grant criterion, the Department will still consider your immigration history when it decides on whether to grant you the visa.

Also be aware that an exclusion period does not prevent a person from applying for a visa. An individual who is potentially subject to an exclusion period may still validly apply for a visa. An exclusion period only comes into play at the visa grant stage. So, for example, if you are banned from Australia for 3 years, you could still apply for a visa (which has an exclusion period as part of the visa grant requirements). The issue only arises at the time of visa grant, that is, when the Department decided whether you meet the prescribed criteria for grant of the visa.

Departmental Discretion To Waive An Exclusion Period

As discussed above, the Department has the discretion to grant a visa to an applicant where an exclusion period applies under:

• PIC 4013, PIC 4014 or SRC 5002, and they are satisfied that prescribed circumstances exist to justify granting the visa; or
• SRC 5010, and they waive the requirement that an applicant has the support of the Foreign Minister or the foreign government that provided financial support to the applicant during their course of study or training.

The Department may not exercise the discretion to grant a visa if SRC 5001 applies, which imposes permanent exclusion from Australia.

It is also not permitted to reduce an exclusion period. Therefore, if you are banned from Australia for 3 years, this re-entry ban period will stay put for the full period, unless it is waived by the Department.

Note that if the Department exercises its discretion to grant a visa in these circumstances, this only applies to the current visa application being considered. If the visa applicant lodges an application for another visa within the exclusion period, this would need to be considered again.

If you would like the Department to consider a waiver of a re-entry ban in your case, you should submit a written submission with your visa application, setting out your reasons, with supporting evidence, as to why you believe ie should be waived, based on the following:

When Can An Exclusion Period Be Waived?

The Department may waive an exclusion period under PIC 4013 or 4014, or SRC 5002 to grant the visa, if there are:

• compelling circumstances that affect the interests of Australia; or
• compassionate or compelling circumstances that affect the interests of an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen.

The Department may also waive the requirement under SRC 5010 for the applicant to have the support of the Foreign Minister or the government of the foreign country that provided financial support to the applicant, for the grant of the visa, if there are:

• compelling circumstances that affect the interests of Australia; or
• compassionate or compelling circumstances that affect the interests of an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen.

In determining whether there are compelling or compassionate circumstances, the Department will examine the particular circumstances of each individual case.

What Are ‘Compelling Circumstances’?

Immigration policy provides some guidance as to how the Department would be expected to assess whether compelling or compassionate circumstances in a particular case.

Policy provides the following examples of where compelling circumstances affecting the interests of Australia may exist:

• Australia’s trade or business opportunities would be adversely affected if the applicant were not granted the visa;
• Australia’s relationship with a foreign government would be damaged if the applicant were not granted the visa; or
• Australia would miss out on a significant benefit that the applicant could contribute to Australia’s business, economic, cultural or other development if the applicant is not granted the visa.

Working and paying taxes in Australia, paying fees to an education provider or spending money in Australia would not meet the ‘compelling circumstances affecting the interests of Australia’ crtierion.

Policy also considers the situation where an exclusion period has arisen due to unintended consequences when determining whether it should be waived. It provides the example where the applicant previously made every effort to leave Australia whilst they were a lawful non-citizen, but did not leave before the visa expired due to factors beyond their control due to, for example, health issues, unavoidable airline delays, or delays associated with the issue of travel documents.

Previous Student Visa Holders

If the last susbtantive visa held by the applicant was a student visa, and they are now applying for a new student visa, policy states that there may be compelling circumstances affecting the interests of Australia:

‘if the applicant’s circumstances, including previous study history in Australia, clearly demonstrate that they have been a genuine student in Australia, and there is no evidence that they have actively or intentionally abused or sought to circumvent immigration laws.’

Further, it states that ‘if the student wishes to apply for another Student visa, significant weight may also be given where there is evidence of a clear continuing study intention.’

We discuss this type of scenario further below in this article with our real-life case study example.

What Are ‘Compassionate Circumstances’?

Under policy, examples of where there may be compassionate circumstances affecting the interests of an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen if the visa applicant is not granted the visa include where:

• family members in Australia would be left without financial or emotional support, or they would be unable to properly arrange a relative’s funeral in Australia; or
• a parent in Australia would be separated from their child (if, for example, the child was removed from Australia with their non-resident parent and is therefore subject to an exclusion period).

What Does ‘Affecting The Interests Of An Australian Citizen Or Permanent Resident’ Mean?

Policy provides the following examples where there may be compelling circumstances affecting the interests of Australians if not granting the visa would mean that:

• a business operated by an Australian citizen would need to shut down due to a lack of specialist skills required to carry out the business;
• civil proceedings brought by an Australian permanent resident would be jeopardised by the absence of the witness (being the visa applicant); or
• an eligible New Zealand citizen would be unable to finalise legal and property matters for a divorce without the physical presence of the visa applicant in Australia.

Visa Case Study

We now share with you a real-life example of a client, Julie, whom we helped to have PIC 4014 waived (as she was subject to a bridging visa e 3 year ban) and a new student visa granted after she was forced to abandon her studies due to her father’s poor health.

How PAX Migration Australia Assisted Julie To Continue Her Studies in Australia

Here is Julie’s story.

Juile was on a Student visa, studying at University and in her second year of study when her father became unwell. As a result, Julie was unable to continue her studies and therefore could not complete all of her subjects that year. As she had been unable to study in the way that she had planned, she would not be finishing her course by the end date specified in her Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) and as a result, her student visa would end prior to her completing her course.

Julie did the right thing and attained a new CoE (with an extended end date) and provided this to the Department. She then continued on with her studies (once her father’s medical needs had been attended to), believing that she had done all that was needed in order to continue studying. She also believed by providing the new CoE to the Department, that she would automatically be granted a new student visa.

However, this was actually not correct. A new CoE does not constitute a new student visa or ‘student visa extension’ as some individuals like to call it (note that there is no such thing as a visa extension, you merely apply for, and attain a new visa, once your visa ends).

So What Did This Mean For Julie?

It means that her student visa ended and she continued to stay in Australia unlawfully, which is quite a serious issue. She happened to discover this some four months after her student visa expired, which is when she contacted us in a real panic. We sat down with Julie and devised a plan for what we could do.

Plan Of Action

First step, we had to get her a visa, so that she was no longer unlawfully in Australia. We went together and applied for a Bridging Visa E (the only option available to a person who has been unlawful in Australia for this length of time).

After that, we had to make arrangements for Julie to go offshore (as she was unable to apply for another student visa in Australia).

Here is where the bridging visa e 3 year ban came into play; Julie was banned from Australia for 3 years under PIC 4014 because because she departed Australia as a BVE holder.

We then had to prepare a new student visa application and most importantly, organise and prepare a submission to apply for a waiver of PIC 4014.

The submission had to be as strong as possible to ensure that Julie had the best chance of attaining her Australian 3 year ban waiver.

There was also one other problem; the census date for her enrolment was fast approaching (the census date is the last day to make any changes to enrolment). If Julie was not in Australia by this date, she would have been unable to continue her studies for that semester (which would then have made it even harder to attain the waiver of the 3 year re-entry ban Australia under PIC 4014).

We lodged the student visa application and submitted the submission for an Australian 3 year ban waiver and waited.

Success!

Fortunately, after many phone calls and emails to the Department asking for the application to be processed by the required date, Julie was awarded the waiver and granted a new student visa. She was able to return to Australia by the required date and continue her studies and complete her course.

Let us now examine some of the key aspects of Julie’s situation.

Why A Bridging Visa E?

A Subclass 050 BVE may be granted to an applicant who does not hold a valid visa (and therefore is an unlawful non-citizen). A BVE may be granted to allow the applicant for a number of reasons, including to make arrangements to leave Australia. Julie did not hold a valid visa, and was therefore unlawfully in Australia. There were no other visa options available to her. Unfortunately though, as a consequence, it gave rise to a bridging visa e 3 year ban (because she left Australia as a BVE holder).

Why Couldn’t Julie Apply For Another Student Visa Onshore?

Because to make a valid onshore application for a student visa, the applicant must hold a substantive temporary visa (other than a substantive temporary visa as specified in the migration provisions).

If the applicant does not hold a substantive visa, then they must meet the following requirements to apply for a student visa validly onshore:

• the last substantive visa held by the applicant was a student visa;
• the application for the new student visa is made within 28 days after the day when that last substantive visa ceased to be in effect; and
• the applicant has not previously been granted a visa based on an application made when the applicant did not hold a substantive visa.

Applying the above to Julie, she did not hold a substantive visa at time of application for the second student visa (as she held no valid visa at that time). And although the last substantive visa she held was a student visa, she applied for the new student visa more that 28 days after her initial student visa expired (her student visa had expired some four months before she came to see us). Additionally, she had been granted a BVE based on an application made when she did not hold a substantive visa (that is, when she was an unlawful non-citizen).

Therefore, Julie could not validly apply for a new student visa in Australia and had to depart to make the application.

What Is A Substantive Temporary Visa?

This means a visa other than a bridging visa, a criminal justice visa or an enforcement visa, which allows the holder to remain in Australia during a specified period, until a specified event happens, or while the holder has a specified status.

What Triggered PIC 4014 To Arise?

When Julie departed Australia as the holder of a BVE, this caused PIC 4014 to be enlivened. And so a bridging visa e 3 year ban was imposed.

Remember, PIC 4014 prescribes that a person is affected by a risk factor if they left Australia, either as an unlawful non-citizen, or as the holder of a Bridging Visa C (BVC), Bridging Visa D (BVD) or Bridging Visa E (BVE).

What Did We Argue In Our Submission To The Department To Have PIC 4014 Waived?

We explained Julie’s circumstances exactly as she had outlined them to us; that she had made a genuine error in not applying for a new student visa. She would have completed her studies within the timeframe provided for in her initial student visa but for the fact that her father became ill and she was forced to put her studies on hold so that she could attend to his needs. This was a factor beyond her control. And when she could return to study, she did.

We also made reference to policy guidance, which states that if the last substantive visa held by the applicant was a student visa, and they are now applying for a new student visa (which was the case for Julie), there may be compelling circumstances affecting the interests of Australia:

‘if the applicant’s circumstances, including previous study history in Australia, clearly demonstrate that they have been a genuine student in Australia, and there is no evidence that they have actively or intentionally abused or sought to circumvent immigration laws.’

Further, policy states that ‘if the student wishes to apply for another Student visa, significant weight may also be given where there is evidence of a clear continuing study intention.’

Julie fully intended to continue her studies. She had only been held back for a period due to her father’s ill health. Her previous study history demonstrated that she had been a genuine student in Australia, with no evidence of actively or intentionally abusing or circumventing the law. She was genuinely of the view that by providing a new CoE to the Department, she would automatically be granted a new student visa. Also, as soon as Julie discovered that her visa had expired, she came to see us about how this could be rectified; she didn’t sit on her hands and wait; she dealt with it immediately.

And she did not simply leave Australia with no valid visa (and therefore an unlawful non-citizen); Julie did the right thing by applying for a BVE to regularise her visa status.

We outlined the above in a detailed submission to the Department, and provided supporting evidence to back up our claims, including letters from Julie’s father’s medical practitioners regarding his health situation and treatment.

What Does Julie’s Case Demonstrate?

The take home message here is just how critically important it is to understand exactly what you can and can’t do with your visa. Julie simply assumed by providing the new CoE to the Department, that she would automatically be granted a new student visa. This case demonstrates firstly, the importance of being fully informed about your rights and obligations as a visa holder, as well as the visa conditions to which you are subject. And secondly, before making any changes (such as changing a course or university), ensure that you thoroughly research what this means and the steps you need to take, especially how any such changes impact on your visa, We recommend that you speak to a professional who will explain exactly what you can and can’t do, and how to make any changes, so that you avoid a situation like Julie’s case highlights.

Julie’s situation also shows the value of seeking expert advice. After hearing Julie’s story, we formulated a strategy to help her to ultimately achieve her migration goals in Australia, that is, to continue her studies. We explained in detail the step-by-step plan that we recommend that she follow, with clear instructions as to why each step was necessary and important. We also crafted a well-written and detailed submission to the Department seeking to have PIC 4014 waived, and provided supporting evidence to back up our claims. And we followed up with the Department extensively to ensure that a decision on Julie’s student visa application was made in time for her to resume her studies.

We hope that by providing you with this case study example, you are better able to see just how valuable it can be to seek professional advice in migration matters. You can see how a real-life situation played out and, most importanly how we helped Julie to obtain a new student visa by submitting to the Department persuasive arguments (with supporting evidence) to have the Australian 3 year ban waiver applied.

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For more information about how a migration professional like PAX Migration Australia can assist you in achieving your migration goals in Australia, just like in Julie’s visa case study, please see the following articles:

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