Appolloni (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered a matter involving an applicant seeking review of a decision related to a Temporary Skill Shortage (Class GK) visa, subclass 482, short-term stream, for the occupation of Hairdresser. The core of the dispute concerned the Tribunal's jurisdiction to review a decision to cancel the approval of a standard business sponsor.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it possessed jurisdiction to review the delegate's decision. This required determining if the decision in question constituted a "Tribunal-reviewable decision" under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth), particularly in light of the specific requirements for subclass 482 visa applications.

The Tribunal reasoned that its jurisdiction to review decisions is circumscribed by specific provisions of the Migration Act and Regulations. For onshore visa applications, including subclass 482 visas, section 338(2) of the Act outlines the conditions for reviewability. While the Tribunal was satisfied that the applicant met the general requirements of section 338(2)(a) to (c), it found that the additional requirement under section 338(2)(d) was not met. This section mandates that for certain temporary visas, including the subclass 482, one of four alternative conditions must be satisfied at the time of the refusal decision for it to be reviewable. Crucially, for primary subclass 482 visa applicants, it is a criterion that they be identified in an approved nomination. The Tribunal noted that the applicant did not satisfy the first three alternatives under section 338(2)(d), which involve an approved nomination, a pending review of a sponsor approval decision, or a pending review of a nomination approval decision.

Consequently, as the delegate's decision was not reviewable under the applicable provisions of the Migration Act, the Tribunal concluded that the application for review had not been properly made and therefore it lacked jurisdiction in the matter.