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Tribunal: Member Susan Trotter

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (The Department) refused to grant the applicants Business Skills (Residence) visas. The applicants requested a review of the decision by the AAT.

The applicants were a couple from the UK who arrived in Australia in 2013, initially as the holders of Sponsored Business Owner temporary visas, and were co-owners and proprietors of a business.

A requirement of the Business Skills visa was that the applicants’ business and personal assets in Australia had certain net values when the visa application was made and throughout the 12 months immediately before.[1]

To determine whether the applicants met the requirement, the AAT referred to evidence including balance sheets, bank statements, property valuations, title deeds and loan agreements.

The main issue in this matter was whether a loan the applicants provided to their son for the purchase of a property was a personal asset to be included in the calculation of the value of their assets. The applicants stated the property their son purchased with the loan was always their property and the loan to their son was an interim arrangement made to assist him in securing his own property. Contrary to the Department, the AAT found that the unsecured loan was an asset for the purposes of the visa application.

The AAT considered the rest of the applicants’ personal and business assets in Australia and found that they met the required net value. 

The AAT remitted the decision under review to the Department for reconsideration, with the direction that the applicants met the requirements related to the net value of personal and business assets in Australia.

Read the full decision on AustLII.

 

[1] Clause 892.212 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994.