Singh (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr. Singh against the refusal of his Regional Employer Nomination (Permanent) (Class RN) visa, Subclass 187 (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme), direct entry stream. The appeal also extended to his family members who were refused visas as members of his family unit. The core of the dispute revolved around the validity of the nomination for the position of Office Manager, which had been refused by the Department.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether Mr. Singh met the requirements of clause 187.233(3) of the Migration Regulations, specifically concerning the nomination of a position. This involved assessing whether the nomination had been approved and not subsequently withdrawn, whether there was any adverse information concerning the nominator, and whether the position remained available. A key legal issue was the effect of the nominator company being deregistered and the subsequent lack of jurisdiction for the Tribunal to review the nomination refusal.

The Tribunal reasoned that the nomination application for Mr. Singh's position was refused by the Department on 8 March 2018. Subsequently, the nominator sought review of this refusal, but the Tribunal found it had no jurisdiction to consider the review application because the nominator had been deregistered on 28 July 2019. This meant there was no prospect of the nomination refusal decision being overturned. The Tribunal concluded that an approved nomination was a mandatory criterion for the visa. As there was no approved nomination and no pending review, the Tribunal affirmed the decision to refuse Mr. Singh's visa.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant Mr. Singh a Subclass 187 visa. The visas for the second and third applicants were also affirmed as they did not meet the secondary criterion of being a member of the family unit of a Subclass 187 visa holder, nor did they meet the primary criteria in their own right.