The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) of Australia has denied a student visa to an Indian national after he failed to complete multiple courses in the last ten years in Australia.
Gurminder Singh first arrived in Australia in January 2008 to pursue a course in English for Vocational Education.
He successfully completed this three-month course and enrolled himself right away for a year-long Diploma of Hospitality Management in April 2008 which he completed but did not pass.
Over the next nine years, he enrolled in multiple courses but failed to complete any of them.
During this period, Mr Singh fell in love with a Nepali girl but due to family’s pressure, married a girl of his parent’s choice in India.
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When his wife joined him in Australia, she expressed a desire to study. Mr Singh gave up his courses as he could not afford two international student fees, he told the tribunal.
The couple applied for a student visa, this time his wife being the primary applicant and himself as being a dependent applicant.
These personal circumstances did not allow him to complete his courses, he told the Tribunal.
But their marriage soon fell apart. Because he was no longer a member of the family unit of his wife after they separated, he was issued a Notification of Intention to Consider Cancellation (NOIC) to cancel this visa in September 2014.
Within 13 days, he applied for a student visa to pursue Commercial Cookery and Diploma in Hospitality.
In January 2015, his student visa was denied as Department of Immigration observed Mr Singh only decided to undertake the study in Australia as a means to maintain ongoing residency in Australia.
Mr Singh denied this and said he wants to study because he has learnt from his bad time and he has lost everything; his 8 years; his wife.
He shared it was his dream to study hospitality in Australia and then go back to India and open a restaurant on the land his family had on a highway in India.
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Tribunal grills Gurminder Singh on his restaurant plans
The Tribunal member Karen Synon grilled Mr Singh on his restaurant plans in India.
The Tribunal asked the applicant to detail exactly what he planned to do when he returned to India and how these courses would help him.
Mr Singh said the course will help him to know how to manage the restaurant and to build a western style kitchen with ovens etc which he has seen a lot in Australia.
He said the course had helped him with cooking skills and learning the new dishes and his father, who is soon to retire as an electrician foreman, will help him to make Indian style food.
The tribunal grilled him on his research, how he would finance the place, what food would he serve and would it be a dine-in or a takeout place.
The tribunal found he had a plan in his mind but it was not written down.
Taking all the factors into consideration, the Tribunal found the applicant was not a ‘genuine temporary entrant’ and that Gurminder Singh was pursuing these courses with a view to maintaining an ongoing residence in Australia.
“Factors including the applicant’s poor course completion, lack of any significant study progression, periods of time when he did not study, cancelled COE’s and visa cancellation, suggest that the applicant is not a genuine temporary entrant,” the tribunal noted.
