SHEN (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for a Training (Subclass 407) visa. The applicant had departed Australia, and the sponsor, Paul Moraitis (Investments) Pty Ltd ATF The Paul Moraitis Family Trust & Stephen Moraitis Family Trust, had withdrawn its application for review of a decision concerning the visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant met the criteria for the visa.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant satisfied subclause 407.214 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994. This subclause requires, among other things, that if the approved sponsor is not a Commonwealth agency, their nomination of an occupational training program in relation to the applicant must have been approved under section 140GB of the Act and that this approval must not have ceased. The Tribunal also considered whether there was any adverse information known to Immigration about the sponsor or a person associated with the sponsor, or if such information could be disregarded.

The Tribunal noted that the sponsor had withdrawn its application for review, and neither the sponsor nor the applicant appeared at the scheduled hearing. The Tribunal had previously informed the applicant that the nomination had been refused by the Department on 14 June 2018, and that the review of this refusal had been withdrawn. The Tribunal highlighted that an approved nomination was a mandatory requirement for the grant of the visa under clause 407.214(b). The applicant's migration agent advised that the applicant had left Australia and returned to China, and that attempts to contact the applicant had been unsuccessful. The Tribunal found that the sponsor was not a Commonwealth agency and that the applicant's Bridging visa had expired, with the applicant being offshore.

Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant could not succeed in their application and affirmed the decision to refuse the Training (Subclass 407) visa.