I & I Associates Pty Ltd (Migration)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered a review of a decision to refuse a nomination under the Temporary Residence Transition nomination stream. The applicant, I & I Associates Pty Ltd, sought approval for a nomination for a Cook position. The core of the dispute centred on whether the nominating business had provided sufficient evidence of its financial capacity to employ the nominated person full-time for at least two years.

The legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met all the requirements for approval of the nomination under regulation 5.19(3) of the Migration Regulations 1994, specifically focusing on regulation 5.19(3)(d)(i), which requires the nominee to be employed full-time for at least two years. The Tribunal was also required to consider whether the applicant had provided sufficient evidence of the business's financial capacity to meet this obligation.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision to refuse the nomination. It reasoned that the provided profit and loss statements for the 2015 financial year showed a significant pre-income tax loss, which did not demonstrate the financial capacity to employ the nominated person on a full-time basis for two years at the proposed salary of $54,000. Furthermore, the Tribunal noted that the applicant had failed to respond to a request for further information under subsection 359(2) of the Act within the prescribed period, leaving the Tribunal without contemporary information regarding the business's financial capacity. As the applicant failed to satisfy regulation 5.19(3)(d)(i), the Tribunal was not required to consider other criteria, and the nomination could not be approved.