TANDOORI VILLA PTY LTD (Migration)

This matter concerned an appeal by Tandoori Villa Pty Ltd against a decision to refuse the nomination of a position under the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS), specifically the Direct Entry Nomination stream. The decision was made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), with Member Stavros Georgiadis presiding. The core of the dispute revolved around whether the nominator met the mandatory requirements for the nomination, particularly concerning the training benchmarks.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant, Tandoori Villa Pty Ltd, satisfied the requirements of regulation 5.19(4) of the Migration Regulations 1994 for the approval of a nomination under the Direct Entry stream. This involved assessing whether the nominated position's tasks corresponded to an occupation specified by the Minister and whether the nominator met the prescribed training benchmarks, either by having operated for at least 12 months and meeting training requirements, or by having an auditable plan if operating for less than 12 months. Alternatively, the Tribunal had to consider if the position was located in regional Australia and if other specific criteria, including a genuine need, inability to fill the position locally, and advice from a regional certifying body, were met.

The Tribunal found that while the applicant's company had been operating for over 12 months and the nominated tasks corresponded to the occupation of Café or Restaurant Manager (ANZSCO 141111) and were to be performed in regional Australia, the nominator had not met the training benchmark requirements. The Tribunal noted that the applicant had not sought to satisfy the criteria under the Temporary Residence Transition Nomination stream, which was a separate pathway. Consequently, the Tribunal was not satisfied that the applicant met the requirements of regulation 5.19(4).

Accordingly, the Tribunal affirmed the decision under review to refuse the nomination.