SINGH (Migration)

This matter concerned an application for an Employer Nomination (Permanent) (Class EN) visa, Subclass 186, specifically within the Temporary Residence Transition stream. The primary applicant, Mr. Surinderpal Singh, along with secondary applicants Mrs. Manjit Kaur, Mr. Sanampreet Singh, and Miss Harsimaranjit Kaur, sought review of a decision not to grant them this visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal, constituted by Member Karen McNamara, was tasked with determining whether the applicants met the relevant criteria for the visa.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the primary applicant, Mr. Singh, satisfied clause 186.223 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994. This clause outlines several requirements for a nominated position in the Temporary Residence Transition stream, including that the nomination must have been approved and not subsequently withdrawn, that there must be no adverse information known to the Department about the nominator or associated persons, that the position must still be available to the applicant, and that the visa application must be made within six months of the nomination's approval. The Tribunal also considered whether the secondary applicants met clause 186.311, which requires them to be members of the family unit of a primary applicant who holds the Subclass 186 visa granted on the basis of satisfying the primary criteria.

The Tribunal reasoned that the primary applicant had failed to meet the essential criterion under clause 186.223(2) because there was no evidence before it that the nomination application associated with the position had been approved. Mr. Singh's assertion that he was now working for another employer willing to nominate him did not provide the necessary evidence of an approved nomination for the current application. Consequently, as the primary applicant did not meet the requirements for the visa, the secondary applicants, as members of his family unit, could not satisfy clause 186.311.

Accordingly, the Tribunal affirmed the decision under review, concluding that the applicants had not met the requirements for the grant of a Subclass 186 visa in the Temporary Residence Transition stream.