Cheeran Jacob (Migration)

This matter concerned the Administrative Appeals Tribunal's review of a decision to cancel a Subclass 482 (Temporary Skill Shortage) visa held by Cheeran Jacob. The cancellation was based on the applicant's approved sponsor, Sapala Foods Pty Ltd, having its sponsorship cancelled and being barred from future applications due to providing false and misleading information to the Department. The Tribunal also had to consider its jurisdiction in relation to other unnamed applicants.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the ground for visa cancellation under s 116(1)(g) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) was made out. This required determining if the applicant's sponsorship had been cancelled under the relevant provisions of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth), specifically r 2.43(1)(l)(iv), which applies when an approved standard business sponsorship is cancelled due to false or misleading information. The Tribunal also had to determine if it had jurisdiction to consider the cases of other applicants.

The Tribunal reasoned that the cancellation of Sapala Foods Pty Ltd's sponsorship and the imposition of the sponsorship bar were themselves subject to merits review. In a prior decision, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal had found that the circumstances for cancelling the sponsorship under s 140L(1)(a) of the Act did not exist and that the power to take action under s 140M did not arise. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the prerequisite ground for cancelling the applicant's visa under s 116(1)(g) was not established.

The Tribunal set aside the decision to cancel the first applicant's Subclass 482 visa and substituted a decision not to cancel it. The Tribunal further determined that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the cases of the other applicants.