Kaur (Migration)

The applicant, Ms Kaur, sought judicial review of a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) affirming the refusal of her Subclass 187 Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme visa application under the Direct Entry stream. The visa was for a position as a Cook. The primary issue was that the nominator for Ms Kaur's visa application had been deregistered by the Department of Home Affairs, meaning there was no approved nomination in place at the time of the decision.

The Federal Court was required to determine whether the AAT had erred in law by affirming the delegate's decision to refuse the visa, specifically in relation to the requirement for an approved nomination. The central question was whether the deregistration of the nominator rendered the application invalid from its inception or whether there was a pathway for the applicant to rectify the nomination defect.

Justice McNamara found that the legislative framework governing the Subclass 187 visa, particularly the *Migration Regulations 1994* (Cth), mandated that a valid nomination must be in effect at the time the visa application is decided. The deregistration of the nominator meant that there was no valid nomination supporting Ms Kaur's application. The Court held that the AAT had correctly applied the law in concluding that the absence of an approved nomination was a fatal flaw to the application, and there was no provision within the regulations that allowed for the applicant to substitute or rectify a nomination once the nominator had been deregistered.

The application for judicial review was dismissed.