Australian Study requirement - "Closely related" issue
by Aki Takahata, Acacia Immigration Australia, 19 February 2010
When international students apply for a General Skilled Migration visa, the Migration Regulations require that their nominated occupation be closely related to their Australian qualification(s).
Under the current DIAC policy, the critical factor in determining whether a qualification is closely related to the nominated skilled occupation is whether the skill sets underpinning the applicant's qualifications are complementary and can be used in the nominated occupation, in terms of both subject matter and the level at which those skills were obtained.
The following case illustrates how careful you should be when you choose your courses of study as well as when you lodge your visa application.
Under the following case, the member of MRT indicated that she was not of the view that the nominated occupation of cook was closely related to the applicant's Diploma of Commerce:
0806021[2009] MRTA 2720 (7 November 2009)
In this case the visa applicant argued that her Diploma of Commerce was closely related to her nominated occupation of cook because the subjects in her Diploma course would assist her to manage a kitchen and supervise staff. However the member's view was that the tasks of a cook set out in ASCO indicated that the occupation might plan menus and estimate food requirements, but the tasks did not extend to managing the kitchen.
The end result was in favour of the applicant. However, that was due to the particular circumstances of this case. It was so decided to maintain consistency with other GSM visa applications where cooks successfully used their Australian qualification of Advanced diploma of Hospitality, which had substantially similar management subjects to the applicant's Diploma of Commerce course.
This case is an example of how vital it is to make a persuasive "relevance statement" at the time of visa application, in particular, when the proximity between the nomination occupation and the Australian qualification is not so apparent.
If you have any questions or would like us to look at your case in greater detail please contact us
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