Patel (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for review of a decision by a delegate of the Minister for Home Affairs to refuse to grant Mr Niral Maneklal Patel, an Indian citizen, a Regional Employer Nomination (Permanent) (Class RN) visa, Subclass 187 (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme), Direct Entry stream. The review application was lodged with the Tribunal on 8 January 2018. The applicant sought the visa to work as a Telecommunication Technician with the nominator, Kilari Telecom Pty Ltd.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant was the subject of an approved nomination for the position, as required by clause 187.233 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994. This clause mandates that the position must be located in regional Australia, the nominator must be the prospective employer, and the nomination must have been approved and not subsequently withdrawn. The delegate had refused the visa application on the basis that the nomination by Kilari Telecom Pty Ltd had been refused, and this refusal was not the subject of a review application.

The Tribunal considered electronic records from the Department and its own case file, noting that no further information had been provided by the applicant. The applicant had been notified by the Department on 9 November 2017 of the refusal of the nomination and the consequent inability to approve the visa application, but did not respond. The Tribunal subsequently wrote to the applicant on 9 January 2018 and 6 December 2018, inviting him to provide information and explaining that if the nomination was refused and no review was pending, the visa refusal would be affirmed. The applicant failed to respond to these invitations and did not attend a scheduled hearing on 20 February 2019, despite being invited to do so. The Tribunal therefore proceeded to determine the matter based on the available information.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant the visa, concluding that the applicant had not satisfied the requirement of being the subject of an approved nomination. The Tribunal noted a typographical error in the date of decision, which was corrected to 18 March 2019.