Federal Court: This decision is extremely important to subclass 482 (TSS) visa applicants. Although it concerned a subclass 457 visa application, it involved the interpretation of a critical provision that is identical to cl 482.212(3). According to this decision, ANZSCO was not the only guide that could be used to determine the "skills, qualifications and employment background" that were necessary for the applicant to perform the tasks of the nominated occupation. We explain how practitioners can use this decision to their clients' advantage.
Summary
One of the most critical requirements for a subclass 482 (TSS) visa application is contained in cl 482.212(3) of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth), which reads as follows:
(3) The applicant has the skills, qualifications and employment background that the Minister considers necessary to perform the tasks of the nominated occupation.
Practitioners often wonder how the above provision should be interpreted. Are applicants required to have all of the 3 components, that is "skills", "qualifications" and "employment background"? Are they required to have only 2 out of those 3 components? Or can a person who has only 1 of those components satisfy that provision? Can or should ANZSCO be used? If so, how?
This decision of the Federal Court answered the above questions in the context of cl 457.223(4)(da), which is identical to cl 482.212(3) for TSS visa applications, as follows.