Kaur (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal by Ms Manpreet Kaur against a decision to affirm the refusal of her Regional Employer Nomination (Permanent) (Class RN) visa, Subclass 187 (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme) under the direct entry stream. The core of the dispute revolved around the validity of the employer nomination required for the visa application.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met criterion cl.187.233(3), which mandates that the Minister has approved the nomination for the position. This criterion requires the nominated position to be located in regional Australia, to be the subject of an approved nomination application, and for the nominator to be the prospective employer. Crucially, the nomination must have been approved and not subsequently withdrawn, and the position must remain available to the applicant.

The Tribunal reasoned that the applicant's visa application was entirely dependent on the outcome of the employer nomination review. The original nominator, Anita & Company Pty Ltd, had lodged a nomination application which was refused by a delegate of the Minister. While the nominator sought review of this refusal, the company was deregistered before the review could be heard. Consequently, the Tribunal found it had no jurisdiction to hear the employer nomination review, meaning there was no approved employer nomination as required by cl.187.233(3). The Tribunal relied on the Full Federal Court's decision in *Singh v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection* [2017] FCAFC 105, which established that employer nomination applications are a "once off" process and cannot be re-lodged or linked to an existing visa application if the original nomination fails. The scheme contemplates a specific nomination being assessed at a particular point in time, with review mechanisms available for that specific nomination, not for the introduction of entirely new nominations.

The Tribunal concluded that the applicant could not satisfy the requirement of an approved nomination. As a result, the decision under review was affirmed.