By Goya Dmytryshchak
A Vietnamese national convicted of cultivating cannabis at an Altona Meadows grow house has won a bid to have his visa application reconsidered.
Trong Quang Vu, 37, last December was denied a Prospective Marriage Visa by Home Affairs on the grounds he did not pass a character test.
But the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia this month set aside that decision and referred the matter back to Home Affairs for reconsideration.
In 2009, Mr Vu travelled to Australia and overstayed his three month visitor visa, continuing to live in the country unlawfully.
The tribunal heard that in 2010 police raided an Altona Meadows house owned by Mr Vu’s mother and seized 157 cannabis plants weighing 33.58 kilograms. Mr Vu and his partner Ms Do were arrested at the house.
Mr Vu, who was the “crop sitter”, pleaded guilty and in 2011 the County Court sentenced him to 20 months’ jail for commercial cultivation of cannabis.
The tribunal found Mr Vu’s low risk of reoffending and the nature of his crime did not make him an unacceptable risk to the Australian community.
It found that Mr Vu’s children in Australia – his biological son and future stepdaughter with Ms Do – weighed strongly against refusing to grant his visa.
