Geetz Pty Ltd (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Cth) considered an application by Geetz Pty Ltd concerning a refusal to approve a nomination for a visa. The core of the dispute was whether the nominated position associated with the applicant's business was genuine, as required by migration regulations.

The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicant met the criteria for approval of the nomination, specifically focusing on regulation 2.72(10)(f) of the Migration Regulations 1994, which mandates that the position associated with the nominated occupation must be genuine. This involved assessing the applicant's claims regarding the operation of their business and the existence of the nominated role.

The Tribunal reasoned that a key criterion for nomination approval is that the nominated position must be genuine. Citing *Cargo First Pty Ltd v MIBP* [2016] FCA 30, the Tribunal affirmed the approach of qualitatively assessing the position against the nominated occupation. In this instance, the applicant's agent had informed the Tribunal that the business was no longer operating. Accepting this representation, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant was not actively and lawfully operating a business, and consequently, the nominated position did not exist and therefore could not be genuine. As this requirement of regulation 2.72(10)(f) was not met, the Tribunal affirmed the decision to refuse the nomination.