AC Piping Solutions Pty Ltd (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for approval of a nominated position by AC Piping Solutions Pty Ltd. The dispute concerned whether the nominated position remained available to the applicant, given that the nominator, AC Piping Solutions Pty Ltd, had been deregistered as a company on 4 July 2021. The AAT invited the applicant to comment on the validity of the review application in light of this deregistration.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the nominated position was still available to the applicant, which hinged on the status of the nominator. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if the nominator, AC Piping Solutions Pty Ltd, met the requirements of regulation 5.19 of the Migration Regulations 1994, particularly subregulation (9)(a) which requires the nominator to be "actively and lawfully operating a business in Australia." The Tribunal also considered the applicant's response to the invitation to comment on the validity of the application.

The Tribunal reasoned that a deregistered company ceases to exist as a legal entity under section 601AD(1) of the Corporations Act 2001. Consequently, AC Piping Solutions Pty Ltd was no longer actively and lawfully operating a business in Australia at the time of the review. While the applicant's representative indicated that the deregistration was an administrative oversight and steps were being taken to reverse it, the Tribunal found that this did not alter the fact that the company was deregistered. The Tribunal concluded that the applicant had not satisfied the requirements of regulation 5.19.

Accordingly, the Tribunal affirmed the decision under review to refuse the nomination.