Parminder Pal Singh (Migration)

This matter concerned an application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of a decision relating to a Subclass 186 (Employer Nomination Scheme) visa, Temporary Residence Transition stream. The applicants sought review of the primary decision, and the Tribunal considered the matter without a hearing, pursuant to section 360(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth).

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicants met the requirements of clause 186.223 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth). This clause pertains to the nomination of a position for the visa, requiring, among other things, that the nomination has been approved, has not been withdrawn, that there is no adverse information known to Immigration about the nominator or associated persons (or such information can be disregarded), that the position remains available to the applicant, and that the visa application was made within six months of the nomination's approval.

The Tribunal reasoned that the employer, Plahi Pty Ltd, had made an application to nominate the applicant for the position of cook. Although this nomination application was initially refused by the Department, the Tribunal, on a prior review, set aside that refusal and substituted a decision to approve the nomination. The Tribunal was satisfied, based on departmental records, that the nomination had been approved and not withdrawn, that no adverse information was known to Immigration, that the position remained available, and that the visa application was lodged within the prescribed timeframe after the nomination approval. Consequently, the Tribunal found that clause 186.223 was satisfied.

Given these findings, the Tribunal remitted the visa applications to the Minister for reconsideration of the remaining visa criteria. The application of the second applicant, who applied as a member of the primary applicant's family unit, was to be determined by reference to the outcome of the primary applicant's application upon remittal.