Commonwealth Consolidated Regulations

MIGRATION REGULATIONS 1994 - REG 2.12FA

Refund on request

  (1)   If:

  (a)   an amount (the paid amount ) has been paid by way of the first instalment of the visa application charge in relation to an application made on or after 1   July 2024 for a Student (Temporary) (Class TU) visa; and

  (b)   one of the following applies:

  (i)   the application was made by a person (the primary applicant ) seeking to meet the primary criteria for the grant of the visa;

  (ii)   the application was combined, in a way permitted by Schedule   1, with the application made by the primary applicant (whether the primary applicant's application was made before, on or after 1   July 2024);

  (iii)   the application was made by a person who is a member of the family unit of another person (the primary visa holder ) who holds a Student (Temporary) (Class TU) visa, having satisfied the primary criteria for that visa; and

  (c)   the paid amount is more than the amount (the old amount ) of the first instalment of the visa application charge that would have been payable in relation to the application if the application had been made on 30   June 2024; and

  (d)   the Minister receives a written request from a person mentioned in subregulation (2) for a refund of the difference between the paid amount and the old amount; and

  (e)   the Minister is satisfied that, at the time of the request, the primary applicant or the primary visa holder (as the case may be) held a valid passport issued by a specified country; and

  (f)   no amount has been refunded under regulation   2.12F in relation to the application;

then the Minister must refund an amount equal to the difference between the paid amount and the old amount.

  (2)   For the purposes of paragraph   (1)(d), the written request must be from:

  (a)   the person who paid the amount (the payer ); or

  (b)   if the payer has a serious physical or mental incapacity--the payer's legal personal representative; or

  (c)   if the payer is a bankrupt within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 --the trustee of the estate of the payer.

Note:   See regulation   2.12K in relation to who is the person who pays an amount by way of an instalment of visa application charge.

Making of refunds

  (3)   The Minister must not make a refund to the legal personal representative of a payer who has died unless the Minister has been given satisfactory evidence of the payer's death.

  (4)   A refund under this regulation must be:

  (a)   paid to the person who made the request for the refund; or

  (b)   provided to a person mentioned in paragraph   (a) for payment to the applicant's deceased estate.

  (5)   If:

  (a)   in the opinion of the Minister, there is no doubt about the identity of the payer; and

  (b)   the Minister pays the amount of the refund to:

  (i)   the payer; or

  (ii)   a person mentioned in paragraph   (2)(b) or (c);

a receipt that is given by the person to whom the refund is paid is, for all purposes, a valid discharge of any liability of the Commonwealth in relation to the payment of the amount of the refund.

  (6)   A refund under this regulation may be paid:

  (a)   in Australian currency; or

  (b)   if the amount of the instalment in respect of which the refund is being paid was paid in another currency--in that other currency.

Definition

  (7)   In this regulation:

"specified country" means the following:

  (a)   Federated States of Micronesia;

  (b)   Fiji;

  (c)   Kiribati;

  (d)   Nauru;

  (e)   Palau;

  (f)   Papua New Guinea;

  (g)   Republic of the Marshall Islands;

  (h)   Samoa;

  (i)   Solomon Islands;

  (j)   Timor - Leste;

  (k)   Tonga;

  (l)   Tuvalu;

  (m)   Vanuatu.