*Another back and forth confusing changes from DIBP*
On 02 November 2017, legislation instrument amendment was made to the PIC 4020. The change read as follow:
The previous PIC 4020 read:
(1) There is no evidence before the Minister that the applicant has given, or caused to be given, to the Minister, an officer, the Tribunal during the review of a Part 5-reviewable decision, a relevant assessing authority or a Medical Officer of the Commonwealth, a bogus document or information that is false or misleading in a material particular in relation to:
- (a) the application for the visa; or
- (b) a visa that the applicant held in the period of 12 months before the application was made.
Clause (1)(b) has been changed to read:
(b) a visa that the applicant held or applied for, in the period of 10 years before the application was made.
The practical effect of this change is that any information or documents provided to the Department, skills assessor or MOC, can be taken into account when deciding an application, even if the previous visa was not granted or was withdrawn before decided.
This change was meant to come into effect on 18 November 2017 and applies to applications lodged on or after that date. It does not apply for applications lodged before 18 November 2017.
However, on 04 December 2017, the regulation change to PIC 4020 was DISALLOWED.
After all, it’s just another day at immigration…
