2013-Mar 28: Discretionary fee waivers

Visa Pak 105 - Guidelines for both administrative and discretionary fee waivers and more information on when it is applicable

Visa Paks

28 March 2013

Discretionary fee waivers

IAC 10/06 outlines the guidelines for both administrative and discretionary fee waivers. Discretionary fee waivers are those that involve a discretionary decision while administrative fee waivers arise from administrative arrangements or clearly documented immigration instructions. Discretionary fee waivers are limited to Immigration Managers (IM) and Branch Managers (BM).

There are instances where an applicant may lodge and pay for one type of residence application but request to change to another type of residence application before the first one is finalised. For example an applicant may wish to change from a Skilled Migrant residence application to a Partnership residence application.

R5.20 states that Immigration Officers need only assess residence applications under the category the principal applicant nominates. Officers are only obliged to seek further information and assess under a different category in certain circumstances.

Because Immigration Officers are not obliged to assess applications under other categories unless the instructions at R5.20 are met, there are no automatic fee waivers for these types of situations. It should therefore be treated as a discretionary fee waiver and waived only by an IM or BM.

If the fee is waived it should be waived as “Fee waived in the interest of excellent customer service” not as “Associated application” or “Associated Skilled Migrant application”.

Action:
Please ensure relevant staff are aware that when an applicant requests to withdraw and lodge a different category of residence application:

  • The fee waiver is discretionary and should be waived by an IM or BM only.
  • The correct AMS fee waiver category is “Fee waived in the interest of excellent customer service”.