Immigration Solicitors

The Appellant appealed against the refusal of his Tier 1 (Post Study Work) Migrant application.

The Tier 1 (Post Study Work) category requires applicants to score 75 points under the attributes section and then a further 10 points for English Language and Maintenance. In total applicants must score 95 points to qualify under the scheme.

The Appellant was not awarded points for qualifications or having obtained an award within twelve months of the application. No points were awarded for English language as he did not have the relevant qualification.

Issues

The Respondent submitted that the ACCA course was a professional qualification and therefore was not a relevant qualification for the purposes of Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) Migrant Scheme.

Our submissions relied on the fact that the ACCA was a listed body and based on ACCA literature and supporting documentation Part 2 Examinations were the equivalent to a Bachelors degree and Part 3 Examinations equivalent to a Masters degree.

The Tribunal stated that the main issue at hand was whether the Appellant’s most recent ACCA qualifications should be considered in order for him to be awarded points. If this was accepted the Appellant would be awarded the maximum points for his qualification and therefore would have met the requirements for having the relevant qualification within twelve months as well as the English language requirement.

Decision

The Tribunal stated that the new and old guidance ( pre 31st March 2009) seemed to mirror each other and the main concern was “professional and vocational” qualifications being considered in the same category.

The Tribunal considered the issue of whether professional and vocational qualifications were different in nature and concluded that vocational courses especially at NVQ level involve little academic study whereas the Appellant according to ACCA literature had achieved a level of Bachelors when he passed his Part Two exams and then onto the equivalent of a Master’s degree when he completed his Professional qualification.

The Tribunal found that the literature and further documentation from the ACCA body was authoritative evidence concerning the equivalency of the course studied by the Appellant. The Tribunal held that in light of this evidence the Appellant had obtained a qualification which was equivalent to a Master’s degree level. As the ACCA was recognised as a qualifying body in 1993 and the Appellant had obtained the qualification at a recognised institution, the Tribunal was satisfied that the Appellant was entitled to a grant of further leave as a Tier 1 (Post – Study Work) Migrant and the appeal was allowed.



Please contact our Managed Migration Department on 0208 515 9105 or 020 7275 2011 for further information.